Evaluation of Heat-related Illness Surveillance Based on Chief Complaint Data from New Jersey Hospital Emergency Rooms

The NJ syndromic surveillance system, EpiCenter, developed an algorithm to quantify HRI visits using chief complaint data. While heat advisories are released by the National Weather Service, an effective HRI algorithm could provide real-time health impact information that could be used to provide supplemental warnings to the public during a prolonged heat wave.

Objective:

The purpose of this evaluation is to characterize the relationship between a patient’s initial hospital emergency room chief complaint potentially related to a heat-related illness (HRI) with final primary and secondary ICD-9 diagnoses.