Table 1. Examples of big data analytics in clinical medicine highlighting the three steps from clinical question formulation to statistical analytics.

Clinical question	Study design	Statistical analytics
What’s the prevalence of depression among young children?	Cohort study	Statistical description, multivariate regression model to identify risk factors
Is sodium bicarbonate effective for metabolic acidosis?	Prospective/retrospective cohort study	Statistical inference; causal inference; and multivariate regression model to adjust for confounders
What is the hospital mortality of patient with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome	Cohort study	Predictive analytics with all kinds of mathematical modeling approaches.