Skip to main content

Chronic Disease or Injury

Since 2008, drug overdose deaths exceeded the number of motor vehicle traffic-related deaths in Indiana and the gap continues to widen1. As the opioid crisis rages on in the United States the federal government is providing funding opportunities to states, but it often takes years for best practices to be developed, shared, and published. Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) has developed a standard process for monitoring and alerting local health partners of increases in drug overdoses captured in Indiana’s syndromic surveillance system (ESSENCE). ISDH is launching a pilot project to encourage local partners to start a conversation about overdose response capabilities and planning efforts in their community. Other states have published articles about drug overdose syndromic surveillance (SyS) data being used to inform local public health action, however, the local overdose response activity details were vague 2,3. With the opioid crisis continuing to spiral out of control in the United States, it is imperative to work together as local, state, and national partners to find potential solutions to this crisis.

Objective:

The overall objective of this session is to discuss opportunities to use drug overdose syndromic surveillance (SyS) data to encourage action among local public health partners. After this roundtable discussion, participants will be able to:

  • Identify opportunities to promote use of drug overdose SyS data to their health partners.
  • Plan for potential drug overdose public health interventions.
  • Develop relationships with roundtable attendees to continue the conversation and sharing of ideas about use of drug overdose SyS data.
Submitted by elamb on

Extreme heat is a major cause of weather-related morbidity and mortality in the United States (US).1 HRI is the most frequent cause of environmental exposure-related injury treated in US emergency departments.2 More than 65,000 emergency room visits occur for acute HRI each summer nationwide.3 In Arizona, HRI accounts for an estimated 2,000 emergency room patients and 118 deaths each year.4 As heat-related illness becomes increasingly recognized as a public health issue, local health departments are tasked with building capacity to conduct enhanced surveillance of HRI in order to inform public health preparedness and response efforts. In Pinal County, understanding the magnitude and risk factors of HRI is important for informing prevention efforts as well as developing strategies to respond to extreme heat.

Objective:

Using a syndromic surveillance system to understand the magnitude and risk factors related to heat-related illness (HRI) in Pinal County, AZ.

Submitted by elamb on

Violence-related injuries are a major source of morbidity and mortality in NC. From 2005-2014, suicide and homicide ranked as NC's 11th and 16th causes of death, respectively. In 2014, there were 1,932 total violent deaths, of which 1,303 were due to suicide (67%), 536 due to homicide (28%), and 93 due to another mechanism of violent injury (5%). These deaths represent a fraction of the total number of violence-related injuries in NC.1 This study examined ED visit data captured by NC DETECT to identify and describe violent injuries treated in NC EDs and compare/contrast with fatalities reported by NC-VDRS.

Objective:

To describe violent injuries treated in North Carolina (NC) emergency departments (EDs) and compare to deaths reported by the NC Violent Death Reporting System (NC-VDRS).

Submitted by elamb on

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) consist of colonies of prokaryotic photosynthetic bacteria algae that can produce harmful toxins. The toxins produced by HABs are considered a One Health issue. HABs can occur in all types of water (fresh, brackish, and salt water) and are composed of cyanobacteria or microalgae. As the climate changes, so do many of the factors that contribute to the growth of HABs, which in turn, can increase the incidence of HAB-related illness in humans. There are three main pathways that HAB toxins can affect human health: dermal, gastrointestinal (GI), and neurological. Swimming in or consuming contaminated water and eating contaminated shellfish are ways to develop HAB-related illnesses. Contact with cells from a bloom while recreating can cause a rash on the body. Most commonly, HAB-related illnesses present with GI symptoms that resemble food poisoning and can affect the liver. Rarely, HABs that produce cyanotoxins can present with neurological symptoms. Issuing and lifting freshwater HAB advisories is within the preview of the Environmental Public Health section at the Oregon Public Health Division. However, most water bodies in the state are not monitored. Because of this, syndromic surveillance was considered as a potentially useful source of HAB exposure information, and the Oregon ESSENCE team was asked to develop a query to help monitor HAB-related complaints.

Objective:

Use ESSENCE to create a sustainable process for identifying ED and urgent care visits that may be related to harmful algal bloom exposure in Oregon.

Submitted by elamb on

Pesticide-related illness and injury is a reportable condition in Florida. In August and September 2016, aerial spraying for mosquito control was conducted in an effort to reduce the population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Miami-Dade County.1 Two areas Wynwood (in August) and Miami Beach (in September) were sprayed with naled. Naled is an organophosphate insecticide registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which is applied via aerial ultra-low volume (ULV) spraying. In addition to routine surveillance using FPICN and reportable disease surveillance data to identify acute naled-related illness, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) also monitored ED chief complaints data to identify any associated increase in ED visits.

Objective:

To describe the use of Florida Poison Information Center Network (FPICN) and Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE-FL) emergency department (ED) chief complaints data to identify acute naled-related illness following aerial spraying in Miami-Dade county, Florida in response to the Zika outbreak.

Submitted by elamb on

COPD is a prevalent chronic disease among older adults; exacerbations often result in ED visits and subsequent hospital admissions. A portion of such patients return to the ED within a few days or weeks. In this study, we investigated patterns of hospital admissions and short-term return visits resulting from COPD-related ED visits.

Objective

To investigate hospital admissions and short-term return visits re- sulting from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-related emergency department (ED) visits. 

Submitted by jababrad@indiana.edu on

A retrospective analysis of emergency department data in NC for drug and opioid overdoses has been explained previously [1]. We built on this initial work to develop new poisoning and surveillance reports to facilitate near real time surveillance by health department and hospital users. In North Carolina, the availability for mortality and hospital discharge data are approximately one and two years after the event date, respectively. NC DETECT data are near real time and over 75% of ED visits receive at least one ICD-9-CM final diagnosis code within two weeks of the initial record receipt.

Objective

Twelve new case definitions were added to the NC DETECT Web Application to facilitate timely surveillance for poisoning and overdose. The process for developing these case definitions and the most recent outputs are described.

Submitted by uysz on

EDCC data provides an opportunity for capturing the early mental health impact of disaster events at the community level, and to track their impact over time. However, while rapid mental health assessment can facilitate a better understanding of the acute post-disaster period and aid early identification of persons at long-term risk,1 determining how wide a net to effectively capture the critical range of mental health sub-categories has not yet been clearly defined. This project creates a comprehensive set of mental health sub-category keywords, and applies them to evaluate short- and long-term trends in postHurricane Sandy mental health outcomes in New York State.

Objective

To define mental health keywords using daily hospital emergency department chief complaint (EDCC) data during and after Hurricane Sandy 2) To track short- and long-term trends in mental health EDCCs. 3) To compare mental health EDCCs in affected counties to the rest of the New York State population.

Submitted by uysz on

Motor vehicle crashes (MVC) are a significant public health problem in Nebraska. These events cost Nebraska $1.6 billion a year, are the leading cause of injury death, and the fourth leading cause of injury hospital treatment in the state. Speeding, driving under the influence, distracted driving, and adverse weather are the main causes of MVC in Nebraska. Effective prevention efforts to reduce MVC related deaths and injuries depend greatly on a surveillance system that monitors the frequency of these events so stakeholders may ascertain the MVC related causes and impact on the state. Currently, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) monitors MVC related death and injuries by linking the following databases statewide crash data, hospital discharge data (HDD), trauma registry, emergency medical system (EMS) data and death certificate data. Although this system has been effective in identifying the causes of MVC-ralated injuries and supporting community based highway safety programs, it is limited by the lack of immediate availability of data. ‘An ED based SS system could potentially be used to enhance MVC injury surveillance by allowing the timely detection of clusters, anomalies and trends. Therefore, and ED SS system could be incorporated to support an efficient and rapid prevention response to MVC-related injuries.

Objective

The objective of this pilot study is to demonstrate the value of emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance (SS) data to aid the surveillance of motor vehicle crash (MVC) related injuries in Nebraska.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on
Subscribe to Chronic Disease or Injury