Antimicrobial prescriptions are a new data source available to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) biosurveillance program. Little is known about whether antiviral or antibacterial prescription data correlates with influenza ICD-9-CM coded encounters. We therefore evaluated the utility and timeliness of antiviral and antibacterial utilization for influenza surveillance.
It is estimated that in the United States (US), unintentional non-fire related CO poisoning causes an average of 439 deaths annually, and in 2007 confirmed CO poisoning cases resulted in 21,304 ED visits and 2,302 hospitalizations (71 per million and 8 per million population, respectively)1 . Despite the significant risk of morbidity and mortality associated with CO poisoning, existing surveillance systems in the United States are limited. This study is the first to focus specifically on CO poisoning trends within the VHA population.
Objective
To describe characteristics of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients with ICD 9/10 CM inpatient discharge and/or emergency department (ED)/urgent care outpatient encounter codes for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.