Data Challenge

Title: Causal Inference of Antimicrobial Resistance Trends: Evaluating the Impact of Climate and Pollution Using Global AMR Data
Antimicrobial resistance is an escalating global health threat, and understanding its fundamental drivers is essential for effective prevention and control strategies. Existing studies and surveillance have primarily focused on the drug resistance and epidemiological aspects of the ESKAPE pathogen, paying limited attention to fungal infections and the long-term impacts of climate change and environmental pollution on the evolution of fungal resistance. Fungal pathogens like Candida and Aspergillus are associated with increasing morbidity and mortality rates, with invasive fungal infections responsible for approximately 1.5 million deaths globally each year. A significant research gap remains regarding the progression of climate and pollution-driven AMR, which varies by geographical location. To address this critical gap, our project proposes a novel approach to investigate the potential causal relationship between climate, air pollution, and the emergence of antibacterial and antifungal resistance using global data available through the Vivli platform. The initial approach will involve exploratory data analysis to assess the data's availability, quality, and structure. Resistance profiles will be generated by constructing composite phenotypes based on susceptibility results from various antibacterial and antifungal agents to identify drug resistance patterns at the country level. We will employ geo-spatial and descriptive statistics to determine regional and annual AMR shifts and their associations with climate data (temperature, precipitation, humidity) and air pollution indicators (PM2.5, NO2, SO2). We plan to integrate descriptive statistics, spatiotemporal analysis, and causal inference techniques to estimate the impact of environmental change on drug resistance and identify the key climatic and pollution indicators driving AMR trends. Our findings will provide global and country-level informed strategies for antimicrobial stewardship and surveillance, thus contributing to our collective goal to combat drug resistance.