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Hammond A, Kim JJ, Sadler H, Vandemaele K. Influenza surveillance systems using traditional and alternative sources of data: A scoping review. Influenza Other Respir Viruses 2022; 16:965-974. [PMID: 36073312 DOI: 10.1111/irv.13037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Revised: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE While the World Health Organization's recommendation of syndromic sentinel surveillance for influenza is an efficient method to collect high-quality data, limitations exist. Aligned with the Research Recommendation 1.1.2 of the WHO Public Health Research Agenda for Influenza-to identify reliable complementary influenza surveillance systems which provide real-time estimates of influenza activity-we performed a scoping review to map the extent and nature of published literature on the use of non-traditional sources of syndromic surveillance data for influenza. METHODS We searched three electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus) for articles in English, French, and Spanish, published between January 1 2007 and January 28 2022. Studies were included if they directly compared at least one non-traditional with a traditional influenza surveillance system in terms of correlation in activity or timeliness. FINDINGS We retrieved 823 articles of which 57 were included for analysis. Fifteen articles considered electronic health records (EHR), 11 participatory surveillance, 10 online searches and webpage traffic, seven Twitter, five absenteeism, four telephone health lines, three medication sales, two media reporting, and five looked at other miscellaneous sources of data. Several articles considered more than one non-traditional surveillance method. CONCLUSION We identified eight categories and a miscellaneous group of non-traditional influenza surveillance systems with varying levels of evidence on timeliness and correlation to traditional surveillance systems. Analyses of EHR and participatory surveillance systems appeared to have the most agreement on timeliness and correlation to traditional systems. Studies suggested non-traditional surveillance systems as complements rather than replacements to traditional systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aspen Hammond
- Global Influenza Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - John J Kim
- Global Influenza Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.,School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
| | - Holly Sadler
- Global Influenza Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
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2
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Abstract
Influenza is a common respiratory infection that causes considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide each year. In recent years, along with the improvement in computational resources, there have been a number of important developments in the science of influenza surveillance and forecasting. Influenza surveillance systems have been improved by synthesizing multiple sources of information. Influenza forecasting has developed into an active field, with annual challenges in the United States that have stimulated improved methodologies. Work continues on the optimal approaches to assimilating surveillance data and information on relevant driving factors to improve estimates of the current situation (nowcasting) and to forecast future dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheikh Taslim Ali
- World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China;
| | - Benjamin J Cowling
- World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China;
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3
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Barros JM, Duggan J, Rebholz-Schuhmann D. The Application of Internet-Based Sources for Public Health Surveillance (Infoveillance): Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res 2020; 22:e13680. [PMID: 32167477 PMCID: PMC7101503 DOI: 10.2196/13680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2019] [Revised: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Public health surveillance is based on the continuous and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. This informs the development of early warning systems to monitor epidemics and documents the impact of intervention measures. The introduction of digital data sources, and specifically sources available on the internet, has impacted the field of public health surveillance. New opportunities enabled by the underlying availability and scale of internet-based sources (IBSs) have paved the way for novel approaches for disease surveillance, exploration of health communities, and the study of epidemic dynamics. This field and approach is also known as infodemiology or infoveillance. Objective This review aimed to assess research findings regarding the application of IBSs for public health surveillance (infodemiology or infoveillance). To achieve this, we have presented a comprehensive systematic literature review with a focus on these sources and their limitations, the diseases targeted, and commonly applied methods. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted targeting publications between 2012 and 2018 that leveraged IBSs for public health surveillance, outbreak forecasting, disease characterization, diagnosis prediction, content analysis, and health-topic identification. The search results were filtered according to previously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results Spanning a total of 162 publications, we determined infectious diseases to be the preferred case study (108/162, 66.7%). Of the eight categories of IBSs (search queries, social media, news, discussion forums, websites, web encyclopedia, and online obituaries), search queries and social media were applied in 95.1% (154/162) of the reviewed publications. We also identified limitations in representativeness and biased user age groups, as well as high susceptibility to media events by search queries, social media, and web encyclopedias. Conclusions IBSs are a valuable proxy to study illnesses affecting the general population; however, it is important to characterize which diseases are best suited for the available sources; the literature shows that the level of engagement among online platforms can be a potential indicator. There is a necessity to understand the population’s online behavior; in addition, the exploration of health information dissemination and its content is significantly unexplored. With this information, we can understand how the population communicates about illnesses online and, in the process, benefit public health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana M Barros
- Insight Centre for Data Analytics, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.,School of Computer Science, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | - Jim Duggan
- School of Computer Science, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
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4
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Safarishahrbijari A, Osgood ND. Social Media Surveillance for Outbreak Projection via Transmission Models: Longitudinal Observational Study. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2019; 5:e11615. [PMID: 31199339 PMCID: PMC6592486 DOI: 10.2196/11615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2018] [Revised: 02/17/2019] [Accepted: 02/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Although dynamic models are increasingly used by decision makers as a source of insight to guide interventions in order to control communicable disease outbreaks, such models have long suffered from a risk of rapid obsolescence due to failure to keep updated with emerging epidemiological evidence. The application of statistical filtering algorithms to high-velocity data streams has recently demonstrated effectiveness in allowing such models to be automatically regrounded by each new set of incoming observations. The attractiveness of such techniques has been enhanced by the emergence of a new generation of geospatially specific, high-velocity data sources, including daily counts of relevant searches and social media posts. The information available in such electronic data sources complements that of traditional epidemiological data sources. Objective This study aims to evaluate the degree to which the predictive accuracy of pandemic projection models regrounded via machine learning in daily clinical data can be enhanced by extending such methods to leverage daily search counts. Methods We combined a previously published influenza A (H1N1) pandemic projection model with the sequential Monte Carlo technique of particle filtering, to reground the model bu using confirmed incident case counts and search volumes. The effectiveness of particle filtering was evaluated using a norm discrepancy metric via predictive and dataset-specific cross-validation. Results Our results suggested that despite the data quality limitations of daily search volume data, the predictive accuracy of dynamic models can be strongly elevated by inclusion of such data in filtering methods. Conclusions The predictive accuracy of dynamic models can be notably enhanced by tapping a readily accessible, publicly available, high-velocity data source. This work highlights a low-cost, low-burden avenue for strengthening model-based outbreak intervention response planning using low-cost public electronic datasets.
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5
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Kapitány-Fövény M, Ferenci T, Sulyok Z, Kegele J, Richter H, Vályi-Nagy I, Sulyok M. Can Google Trends data improve forecasting of Lyme disease incidence? Zoonoses Public Health 2018; 66:101-107. [PMID: 30447056 DOI: 10.1111/zph.12539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2018] [Revised: 09/30/2018] [Accepted: 10/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Online activity-based epidemiological surveillance and forecasting is getting more and more attention. To date, Google search volumes have not been assessed for forecasting of tick-borne diseases. Thus, we performed an analysis of forecasting of the Lyme disease incidence based on the traditional data extended with Google Trends. METHODS Data on the weekly incidence of Lyme disease in Germany from 16 June 2013 to 27 May 2018 were obtained from the database of the Robert Koch Institute. Data of Internet searches were obtained from Google Trends searching "Borreliose" in Germany for the "last 5 years" as a timespan category. Data were split into the training (from 16 June 2013 to 11 June 2017) and validation (from 12 June 2017, to 27 May 2018) data sets. A seasonal autoregressive moving average model, SARIMA (0,1,1) (0,1,1) [52] model was selected to describe the time series of the weekly Lyme incidence. After this, we added the Google Trends data as an external regressor and identified the SARIMA (0,1,1) (0,1,1) [52] model as optimal. We made predictions for the validation interval using these two models and compared predictions with the values of the validation data set. RESULTS Forecasting for the validation timespan resulted in similar values for the models. Comparing the forecasted values with the reported ones resulted in an residual mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.3763; the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was 8.233 for the model without Google searches with an RMSE of 0.3732; and the MAPE was 8.17495 for the Google Trends values-expanded model. The difference between the predictive performances was insignificant (Diebold-Mariano Test, p-value = 0.4152). CONCLUSION Google Trends data are a good correlate of the reported incidence of Lyme disease in Germany, but it failed to significantly improve the forecasting accuracy in models based on traditional data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Máté Kapitány-Fövény
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.,Nyírő Gyula National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictions, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Tamás Ferenci
- John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Physiological Controls Group, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Zita Sulyok
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Josua Kegele
- Department of Neurology and Epileptology, Neurology Clinics, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Hardy Richter
- Department of Neurology and Stroke, Neurology Clinics, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany
| | - István Vályi-Nagy
- South-Pest Central Hospital, National Institute of Hematology and Infectious Diseases, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Mihály Sulyok
- Department of Neurology and Stroke, Neurology Clinics, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany
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6
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Global Research on Syndromic Surveillance from 1993 to 2017: Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization. SUSTAINABILITY 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/su10103414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Syndromic Surveillance aims at analyzing medical data to detect clusters of illness or forecast disease outbreaks. Although the research in this field is flourishing in terms of publications, an insight of the global research output has been overlooked. This paper aims at analyzing the global scientific output of the research from 1993 to 2017. To this end, the paper uses bibliometric analysis and visualization to achieve its goal. Particularly, a data processing framework was proposed based on citation datasets collected from Scopus and Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). The bibliometric method and Citespace were used to analyze the institutions, countries, and research areas as well as the current hotspots and trends. The preprocessed dataset includes 14,680 citation records. The analysis uncovered USA, England, Canada, France and Australia as the top five most productive countries publishing about Syndromic Surveillance. On the other hand, at the Pinnacle of academic institutions are the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The reference co-citation analysis uncovered the common research venues and further analysis of the keyword cooccurrence revealed the most trending topics. The findings of this research will help in enriching the field with a comprehensive view of the status and future trends of the research on Syndromic Surveillance.
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7
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Kim TH, Hong KJ, Shin SD, Park GJ, Kim S, Hong N. Forecasting respiratory infectious outbreaks using ED-based syndromic surveillance for febrile ED visits in a Metropolitan City. Am J Emerg Med 2018; 37:183-188. [PMID: 29779674 PMCID: PMC7126969 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2018.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2018] [Revised: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Monitoring and detecting sudden outbreaks of respiratory infectious disease is important. Emergency Department (ED)-based syndromic surveillance systems have been introduced for early detection of infectious outbreaks. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a forecasting model of respiratory infectious disease outbreaks based on a nationwide ED syndromic surveillance using daily number of emergency department visits with fever. Methods We measured the number of daily ED visits with body temperature ≥ 38.0 °C and daily number of patients diagnosed as respiratory illness by the ICD-10 codes from the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) database of Seoul, Korea. We developed a forecast model according to the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) method using the NEDIS data from 2013 to 2014 and validated it using the data from 2015. We defined alarming criteria for extreme numbers of ED febrile visits that exceed the forecasted number. Finally, the predictive performance of the alarm generated by the forecast model was estimated. Results From 2013 to 2015, data of 4,080,766 ED visits were collected. 303,469 (7.4%) were ED visits with fever, and 388,943 patients (9.5%) were diagnosed with respiratory infectious disease. The ARIMA (7.0.7) model was the most suitable model for predicting febrile ED visits the next day. The number of patients with respiratory infectious disease spiked concurrently with the alarms generated by the forecast model. Conclusions A forecast model using syndromic surveillance based on the number of ED visits was feasible for early detection of ED respiratory infectious disease outbreak.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tae Han Kim
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Republic of Korea
| | - Ki Jeong Hong
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Republic of Korea.
| | - Sang Do Shin
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea.
| | - Gwan Jin Park
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Republic of Korea
| | - Sungwan Kim
- Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea.
| | - Nhayoung Hong
- Interdisciplinary Program for Bioengineering, Graduate School, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
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8
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Chiu APY, Lin Q, He D. News trends and web search query of HIV/AIDS in Hong Kong. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0185004. [PMID: 28922376 PMCID: PMC5602633 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Accepted: 09/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The HIV epidemic in Hong Kong has worsened in recent years, with major contributions from high-risk subgroup of men who have sex with men (MSM). Internet use is prevalent among the majority of the local population, where they sought health information online. This study examines the impacts of HIV/AIDS and MSM news coverage on web search query in Hong Kong. METHODS Relevant news coverage about HIV/AIDS and MSM from January 1st, 2004 to December 31st, 2014 was obtained from the WiseNews databse. News trends were created by computing the number of relevant articles by type, topic, place of origin and sub-populations. We then obtained relevant search volumes from Google and analysed causality between news trends and Google Trends using Granger Causality test and orthogonal impulse function. RESULTS We found that editorial news has an impact on "HIV" Google searches on HIV, with the search term popularity peaking at an average of two weeks after the news are published. Similarly, editorial news has an impact on the frequency of "AIDS" searches two weeks after. MSM-related news trends have a more fluctuating impact on "MSM" Google searches, although the time lag varies anywhere from one week later to ten weeks later. CONCLUSIONS This infodemiological study shows that there is a positive impact of news trends on the online search behavior of HIV/AIDS or MSM-related issues for up to ten weeks after. Health promotional professionals could make use of this brief time window to tailor the timing of HIV awareness campaigns and public health interventions to maximise its reach and effectiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice P. Y. Chiu
- Department of Applied Mathematics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Qianying Lin
- Department of Applied Mathematics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Daihai He
- Department of Applied Mathematics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
- * E-mail:
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9
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Utility and potential of rapid epidemic intelligence from internet-based sources. Int J Infect Dis 2017; 63:77-87. [PMID: 28765076 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2017.07.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2017] [Revised: 07/19/2017] [Accepted: 07/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Rapid epidemic detection is an important objective of surveillance to enable timely intervention, but traditional validated surveillance data may not be available in the required timeframe for acute epidemic control. Increasing volumes of data on the Internet have prompted interest in methods that could use unstructured sources to enhance traditional disease surveillance and gain rapid epidemic intelligence. We aimed to summarise Internet-based methods that use freely-accessible, unstructured data for epidemic surveillance and explore their timeliness and accuracy outcomes. METHODS Steps outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist were used to guide a systematic review of research related to the use of informal or unstructured data by Internet-based intelligence methods for surveillance. RESULTS We identified 84 articles published between 2006-2016 relating to Internet-based public health surveillance methods. Studies used search queries, social media posts and approaches derived from existing Internet-based systems for early epidemic alerts and real-time monitoring. Most studies noted improved timeliness compared to official reporting, such as in the 2014 Ebola epidemic where epidemic alerts were generated first from ProMED-mail. Internet-based methods showed variable correlation strength with official datasets, with some methods showing reasonable accuracy. CONCLUSION The proliferation of publicly available information on the Internet provided a new avenue for epidemic intelligence. Methodologies have been developed to collect Internet data and some systems are already used to enhance the timeliness of traditional surveillance systems. To improve the utility of Internet-based systems, the key attributes of timeliness and data accuracy should be included in future evaluations of surveillance systems.
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10
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Hopkins RS, Tong CC, Burkom HS, Akkina JE, Berezowski J, Shigematsu M, Finley PD, Painter I, Gamache R, Vilas VJDR, Streichert LC. A Practitioner-Driven Research Agenda for Syndromic Surveillance. Public Health Rep 2017; 132:116S-126S. [PMID: 28692395 DOI: 10.1177/0033354917709784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Syndromic surveillance has expanded since 2001 in both scope and geographic reach and has benefited from research studies adapted from numerous disciplines. The practice of syndromic surveillance continues to evolve rapidly. The International Society for Disease Surveillance solicited input from its global surveillance network on key research questions, with the goal of improving syndromic surveillance practice. A workgroup of syndromic surveillance subject matter experts was convened from February to June 2016 to review and categorize the proposed topics. The workgroup identified 12 topic areas in 4 syndromic surveillance categories: informatics, analytics, systems research, and communications. This article details the context of each topic and its implications for public health. This research agenda can help catalyze the research that public health practitioners identified as most important.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard S Hopkins
- 1 Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions and College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Catherine C Tong
- 2 International Society for Disease Surveillance, Braintree, MA, USA
| | - Howard S Burkom
- 3 Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - Judy E Akkina
- 4 Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health, Veterinary Services, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, US Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - John Berezowski
- 5 Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Mika Shigematsu
- 6 International Biological and Chemical Threat Reduction Program, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, USA.,7 National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Patrick D Finley
- 8 Department of Operations Research and Computational Analysis, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Ian Painter
- 9 Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.,10 Gamache Consulting, Rockville, MD, USA
| | - Roland Gamache
- 11 School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, Kent, UK.,12 Center for Population Health Information Technology, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
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McCarthy DM, Scott GN, Courtney DM, Czerniak A, Aldeen AZ, Gravenor S, Dresden SM. What Did You Google? Describing Online Health Information Search Patterns of ED patients and Their Relationship with Final Diagnoses. West J Emerg Med 2017; 18:928-936. [PMID: 28874946 PMCID: PMC5576630 DOI: 10.5811/westjem.2017.5.34108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2017] [Revised: 04/20/2017] [Accepted: 05/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Emergency department (ED) patients’ Internet search terms prior to arrival have not been well characterized. The objective of this analysis was to characterize the Internet search terms patients used prior to ED arrival and their relationship to final diagnoses. Methods We collected data via survey; participants listed Internet search terms used. Terms were classified into categories: symptom, specific diagnosis, treatment options, anatomy questions, processes of care/physicians, or “other.” We categorized each discharge diagnosis as either symptom-based or formal diagnosis. The relationship between the search term and final diagnosis was assigned to one of four categories of search/diagnosis combinations (symptom search/symptom diagnosis, symptom search/formal diagnosis, diagnosis search/symptom diagnosis, diagnosis search/formal diagnosis), representing different “trajectories.” Results We approached 889 patients; 723 (81.3%) participated. Of these, 177 (24.5%) used the Internet prior to ED presentation; however, seven had incomplete data (N=170). Mean age was 47 years (standard deviation 18.2); 58.6% were female and 65.7% white. We found that 61.7% searched symptoms and 40.6% searched a specific diagnosis. Most patients received discharge diagnoses of equal specificity as their search terms (34% flat trajectory-symptoms and 34% flat trajectory-diagnosis). Ten percent searched for a diagnosis by name but received a symptom-based discharge diagnosis with less specificity. In contrast, 22% searched for a symptom and received a detailed diagnosis. Among those who searched for a diagnosis by name (n=69) only 29% received the diagnosis that they had searched. Conclusion The majority of patients used symptoms as the basis of their pre-ED presentation Internet search. When patients did search for specific diagnoses, only a minority searched for the diagnosis they eventually received.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle M McCarthy
- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Grant N Scott
- University of New Mexico, Department of Emergency Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico
| | - D Mark Courtney
- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Alyssa Czerniak
- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Amer Z Aldeen
- US Acute Care Solutions, Center for Emergency Medical Education, Canton, Ohio
| | - Stephanie Gravenor
- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Scott M Dresden
- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
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12
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Dengue Baidu Search Index data can improve the prediction of local dengue epidemic: A case study in Guangzhou, China. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2017; 11:e0005354. [PMID: 28263988 PMCID: PMC5354435 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2016] [Revised: 03/16/2017] [Accepted: 01/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Dengue fever (DF) in Guangzhou, Guangdong province in China is an important public health issue. The problem was highlighted in 2014 by a large, unprecedented outbreak. In order to respond in a more timely manner and hence better control such potential outbreaks in the future, this study develops an early warning model that integrates internet-based query data into traditional surveillance data. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A Dengue Baidu Search Index (DBSI) was collected from the Baidu website for developing a predictive model of dengue fever in combination with meteorological and demographic factors. Generalized additive models (GAM) with or without DBSI were established. The generalized cross validation (GCV) score and deviance explained indexes, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and root mean squared error (RMSE), were respectively applied to measure the fitness and the prediction capability of the models. Our results show that the DBSI with one-week lag has a positive linear relationship with the local DF occurrence, and the model with DBSI (ICC:0.94 and RMSE:59.86) has a better prediction capability than the model without DBSI (ICC:0.72 and RMSE:203.29). CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that a DSBI combined with traditional disease surveillance and meteorological data can improve the dengue early warning system in Guangzhou.
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Priedhorsky R, Osthus D, Daughton AR, Moran KR, Generous N, Fairchild G, Deshpande A, Del Valle SY. Measuring Global Disease with Wikipedia: Success, Failure, and a Research Agenda. CSCW : PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK. CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK 2017; 2017:1812-1834. [PMID: 28782059 PMCID: PMC5542563 DOI: 10.1145/2998181.2998183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Effective disease monitoring provides a foundation for effective public health systems. This has historically been accomplished with patient contact and bureaucratic aggregation, which tends to be slow and expensive. Recent internet-based approaches promise to be real-time and cheap, with few parameters. However, the question of when and how these approaches work remains open. We addressed this question using Wikipedia access logs and category links. Our experiments, replicable and extensible using our open source code and data, test the effect of semantic article filtering, amount of training data, forecast horizon, and model staleness by comparing across 6 diseases and 4 countries using thousands of individual models. We found that our minimal-configuration, language-agnostic article selection process based on semantic relatedness is effective for improving predictions, and that our approach is relatively insensitive to the amount and age of training data. We also found, in contrast to prior work, very little forecasting value, and we argue that this is consistent with theoretical considerations about the nature of forecasting. These mixed results lead us to propose that the currently observational field of internet-based disease surveillance must pivot to include theoretical models of information flow as well as controlled experiments based on simulations of disease.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dave Osthus
- Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences (CCS) Division
| | - Ashlynn R Daughton
- Analytics, Intelligence, and Technology (A) Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM
| | - Kelly R Moran
- Analytics, Intelligence, and Technology (A) Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM
| | - Nicholas Generous
- Analytics, Intelligence, and Technology (A) Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM
| | - Geoffrey Fairchild
- Analytics, Intelligence, and Technology (A) Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM
| | - Alina Deshpande
- Analytics, Intelligence, and Technology (A) Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM
| | - Sara Y Del Valle
- Analytics, Intelligence, and Technology (A) Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM
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14
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A look back: investigating Google Flu Trends during the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic in Canada, 2009-2010. Epidemiol Infect 2016; 145:420-423. [PMID: 27876098 DOI: 10.1017/s0950268816002636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
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Klembczyk JJ, Jalalpour M, Levin S, Washington RE, Pines JM, Rothman RE, Dugas AF. Google Flu Trends Spatial Variability Validated Against Emergency Department Influenza-Related Visits. J Med Internet Res 2016; 18:e175. [PMID: 27354313 PMCID: PMC4942685 DOI: 10.2196/jmir.5585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2016] [Revised: 05/05/2016] [Accepted: 05/10/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Influenza is a deadly and costly public health problem. Variations in its seasonal patterns cause dangerous surges in emergency department (ED) patient volume. Google Flu Trends (GFT) can provide faster influenza surveillance information than traditional CDC methods, potentially leading to improved public health preparedness. GFT has been found to correlate well with reported influenza and to improve influenza prediction models. However, previous validation studies have focused on isolated clinical locations. Objective The purpose of the study was to measure GFT surveillance effectiveness by correlating GFT with influenza-related ED visits in 19 US cities across seven influenza seasons, and to explore which city characteristics lead to better or worse GFT effectiveness. Methods Using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data, we collected weekly counts of ED visits for all patients with diagnosis (International Statistical Classification of Diseases 9) codes for influenza-related visits from 2005-2011 in 19 different US cities. We measured the correlation between weekly volume of GFT searches and influenza-related ED visits (ie, GFT ED surveillance effectiveness) per city. We evaluated the relationship between 15 publically available city indicators (11 sociodemographic, two health care utilization, and two climate) and GFT surveillance effectiveness using univariate linear regression. Results Correlation between city-level GFT and influenza-related ED visits had a median of .84, ranging from .67 to .93 across 19 cities. Temporal variability was observed, with median correlation ranging from .78 in 2009 to .94 in 2005. City indicators significantly associated (P<.10) with improved GFT surveillance include higher proportion of female population, higher proportion with Medicare coverage, higher ED visits per capita, and lower socioeconomic status. Conclusions GFT is strongly correlated with ED influenza-related visits at the city level, but unexplained variation over geographic location and time limits its utility as standalone surveillance. GFT is likely most useful as an early signal used in conjunction with other more comprehensive surveillance techniques. City indicators associated with improved GFT surveillance provide some insight into the variability of GFT effectiveness. For example, populations with lower socioeconomic status may have a greater tendency to initially turn to the Internet for health questions, thus leading to increased GFT effectiveness. GFT has the potential to provide valuable information to ED providers for patient care and to administrators for ED surge preparedness.
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Schanzer DL, Saboui M, Lee L, Domingo FR, Mersereau T. Leading Indicators and the Evaluation of the Performance of Alerts for Influenza Epidemics. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0141776. [PMID: 26513364 PMCID: PMC4626042 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2015] [Accepted: 10/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Most evaluations of epidemic thresholds for influenza have been limited to internal criteria of the indicator variable. We aimed to initiate discussion on appropriate methods for evaluation and the value of cross-validation in assessing the performance of a candidate indicator for influenza activity. METHODS Hospital records of in-patients with a diagnosis of confirmed influenza were extracted from the Canadian Discharge Abstract Database from 2003 to 2011 and aggregated to weekly and regional levels, yielding 7 seasons and 4 regions for evaluation (excluding the 2009 pandemic period). An alert created from the weekly time-series of influenza positive laboratory tests (FluWatch, Public Health Agency of Canada) was evaluated against influenza-confirmed hospitalizations on 5 criteria: lead/lag timing; proportion of influenza hospitalizations covered by the alert period; average length of the influenza alert period; continuity of the alert period and length of the pre-peak alert period. RESULTS Influenza hospitalizations led laboratory positive tests an average of only 1.6 (95% CI: -1.5, 4.7) days. However, the difference in timing exceeded 1 week and was statistically significant at the significance level of 0.01 in 5 out of 28 regional seasons. An alert based primarily on 5% positivity and 15 positive tests produced an average alert period of 16.6 weeks. After allowing for a reporting delay of 2 weeks, the alert period included 80% of all influenza-confirmed hospitalizations. For 20 out of the 28 (71%) seasons, the first alert would have been signalled at least 3 weeks (in real time) prior to the week with maximum number of influenza hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS Virological data collected from laboratories was a good indicator of influenza activity with the resulting alert covering most influenza hospitalizations and providing a reasonable pre-peak warning at the regional level. Though differences in timing were statistically significant, neither time-series consistently led the other.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dena L. Schanzer
- Centre for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Myriam Saboui
- Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Liza Lee
- Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Francesca Reyes Domingo
- Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Teresa Mersereau
- Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Google Flu Trends in Canada: a comparison of digital disease surveillance data with physician consultations and respiratory virus surveillance data, 2010-2014. Epidemiol Infect 2015; 144:325-32. [PMID: 26135239 DOI: 10.1017/s0950268815001478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The value of Google Flu Trends (GFT) remains unclear after it overestimated the proportion of physician visits related to influenza-like illness (ILI) in the United States in 2012-2013. However, GFT estimates (%GFT) have not been examined nationally in Canada nor compared with positivity for respiratory viruses other than influenza. For 2010-2014, we compared %GFT for Canada to Public Health Agency of Canada ILI consultation rates (%PHAC) and to positivity for influenza A and B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), and rhinoviruses. %GFT correlated well with %PHAC (ρ = 0·77-0·90) and influenza A positivity (ρ = 0·64-0·96) and overestimated the 2012-2013 %PHAC peak by 0·99 percentage points. %GFT peaks corresponded temporally with peaks in positivity for influenza A and rhinoviruses (all seasons) and RSV and hMPV when their peaks preceded influenza peaks. In Canada, %GFT represented traditional surveillance data and corresponded temporally with patterns in circulating respiratory viruses.
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Stevens KB, Pfeiffer DU. Sources of spatial animal and human health data: Casting the net wide to deal more effectively with increasingly complex disease problems. Spat Spatiotemporal Epidemiol 2015; 13:15-29. [PMID: 26046634 PMCID: PMC7102771 DOI: 10.1016/j.sste.2015.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2015] [Accepted: 04/28/2015] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
During the last 30years it has become commonplace for epidemiological studies to collect locational attributes of disease data. Although this advancement was driven largely by the introduction of handheld global positioning systems (GPS), and more recently, smartphones and tablets with built-in GPS, the collection of georeferenced disease data has moved beyond the use of handheld GPS devices and there now exist numerous sources of crowdsourced georeferenced disease data such as that available from georeferencing of Google search queries or Twitter messages. In addition, cartography has moved beyond the realm of professionals to crowdsourced mapping projects that play a crucial role in disease control and surveillance of outbreaks such as the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic. This paper provides a comprehensive review of a range of innovative sources of spatial animal and human health data including data warehouses, mHealth, Google Earth, volunteered geographic information and mining of internet-based big data sources such as Google and Twitter. We discuss the advantages, limitations and applications of each, and highlight studies where they have been used effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim B Stevens
- Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Dept. of Production & Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Dirk U Pfeiffer
- Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Dept. of Production & Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom.
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Geographical and Temporal Correlations in the Incidence of Lyme Disease, RMSF, Ehrlichiosis, and Coccidioidomycosis with Search Data. J Invest Dermatol 2015; 135:1903-1905. [PMID: 25756797 PMCID: PMC7094515 DOI: 10.1038/jid.2015.93] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Al-Tawfiq JA, Zumla A, Gautret P, Gray GC, Hui DS, Al-Rabeeah AA, Memish ZA. Surveillance for emerging respiratory viruses. THE LANCET. INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2014; 14:992-1000. [PMID: 25189347 PMCID: PMC7106459 DOI: 10.1016/s1473-3099(14)70840-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Several new viral respiratory tract infectious diseases with epidemic potential that threaten global health security have emerged in the past 15 years. In 2003, WHO issued a worldwide alert for an unknown emerging illness, later named severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The disease caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV) rapidly spread worldwide, causing more than 8000 cases and 800 deaths in more than 30 countries with a substantial economic impact. Since then, we have witnessed the emergence of several other viral respiratory pathogens including influenza viruses (avian influenza H5N1, H7N9, and H10N8; variant influenza A H3N2 virus), human adenovirus-14, and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). In response, various surveillance systems have been developed to monitor the emergence of respiratory-tract infections. These include systems based on identification of syndromes, web-based systems, systems that gather health data from health facilities (such as emergency departments and family doctors), and systems that rely on self-reporting by patients. More effective national, regional, and international surveillance systems are required to enable rapid identification of emerging respiratory epidemics, diseases with epidemic potential, their specific microbial cause, origin, mode of acquisition, and transmission dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq
- Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
| | - Alimuddin Zumla
- Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University College London Hospitals, London, UK; Global Center for Mass Gatherings Medicine, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Philippe Gautret
- Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Marseille, CHU Nord, Pôle Infectieux, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection & Aix Marseille Université, Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), Marseille, France
| | - Gregory C Gray
- Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida
| | - David S Hui
- Division of Respiratory Medicine and Stanley Ho Center for emerging Infectious Diseases, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, New Territories, Hong Kong
| | - Abdullah A Al-Rabeeah
- Global Center for Mass Gatherings Medicine, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ziad A Memish
- Global Center for Mass Gatherings Medicine, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Al-Faisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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Zhang Y, Arab A, Cowling BJ, Stoto MA. Characterizing Influenza surveillance systems performance: application of a Bayesian hierarchical statistical model to Hong Kong surveillance data. BMC Public Health 2014; 14:850. [PMID: 25127906 PMCID: PMC4246552 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2014] [Accepted: 08/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Infectious disease surveillance is a process the product of which reflects both actual disease trends and public awareness of the disease. Decisions made by patients, health care providers, and public health professionals about seeking and providing health care and about reporting cases to health authorities are all influenced by the information environment, which changes constantly. Biases are therefore imbedded in surveillance systems; these biases need to be characterized to provide better situational awareness for decision-making purposes. Our goal is to develop a statistical framework to characterize influenza surveillance systems, particularly their correlation with the information environment. METHODS We identified Hong Kong influenza surveillance data systems covering healthcare providers, laboratories, daycare centers and residential care homes for the elderly. A Bayesian hierarchical statistical model was developed to examine the statistical relationships between the influenza surveillance data and the information environment represented by alerts from HealthMap and web queries from Google. Different models were fitted for non-pandemic and pandemic periods and model goodness-of-fit was assessed using common model selection procedures. RESULTS Some surveillance systems - especially ad hoc systems developed in response to the pandemic flu outbreak - are more correlated with the information environment than others. General practitioner (percentage of influenza-like-illness related patient visits among all patient visits) and laboratory (percentage of specimen tested positive) seem to proportionally reflect the actual disease trends and are less representative of the information environment. Surveillance systems using influenza-specific code for reporting tend to reflect biases of both healthcare seekers and providers. CONCLUSIONS This study shows certain influenza surveillance systems are less correlated with the information environment than others, and therefore, might represent more reliable indicators of disease activity in future outbreaks. Although the patterns identified in this study might change in future outbreaks, the potential susceptibility of surveillance data is likely to persist in the future, and should be considered when interpreting surveillance data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Zhang
- />Department of Health Systems Administration, School of Nursing and Health Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, DC USA
| | - Ali Arab
- />Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC USA
| | - Benjamin J Cowling
- />School of Public Health, Li KaShing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Michael A Stoto
- />Department of Health Systems Administration, School of Nursing and Health Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, DC USA
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