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A comparison of syndromic surveillance chief complaint data and discharge data in a pediatric hospital system during 2009 H1N1

Description

The Syndromic Surveillance Program (SSP) of the Acute Disease Epidemiology Section of the Georgia Division of Public Health, provides electronic influenza- like- illness (ILI) data to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network Program that characterizes the burden of influenza in states on a weekly basis.

ILI is defined as a fever of 1001, plus a cough or sore throat. This definition is used to classify ILI by the SSP, as well as in diagnosis at the pediatric hospital system. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the SSP was provided a daily data transfer to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to heighten situational awareness of the burden of ILI in Georgia. Throughout the peak of the pandemic, data from the pediatric hospital system identified when the percentage of daily visits for ILI had substantively increased. The data includes patient chief complaint (CC) data from emergency department visits for two facilities at Facilities A and B. The data received by SSP does not include diagnosis data.

Patient emergency department discharge data (DD) for ‘FLU’ was provided to SSP retrospectively to compare with the CC data routinely collected and analyzed. The data was derived from the pediatric health system’s month end, internal, syndromic surveillance report based upon emergency department visits, and including physician’s diagnosis at the time of patient’s discharge. The case definition of ‘FLU’ from the pediatric health system facilities is acute onset of fever, with cough and/or sore throat in the absence of a known cause other than influenza.

 

Objective

The objective of this study is to describe the difference between patient CC, ILI data provided daily to the Georgia SSP during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and patient DD subsequently provided for comparison with the SSP from its participating pediatric hospital system, and its two affiliated emergency rooms.

Submitted by hparton on