Digital biobanks are underutilized in dermatology and create opportunities to reduce the burden of skin disease.

Digital biobanks, which integrate genetic data with health data captured by digital sources, have been successful in discovering genetic associations for various health outcomes. However, these resources have been underutilized in dermatology research compared to other fields. There are opportunities to use biobank data to increase knowledge about the genetic architecture of skin disease, understand disease mechanisms, and discover genetically derived disease relationships. Biobanks have facilitated the discovery of common risk variants and clinically relevant pathways, and integrating sequencing data can further enhance investigations of rare genetic variants. Limitations include the sensitivity and specificity of algorithms used to identify cases and controls, as well as a lack of ancestral diversity in digital biobanks. Nonetheless, leveraging digital biobanks can help reduce the burden of skin disease and improve patient care. [Extracted from the article]