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Evaluation of Syndromic Surveillance

Description

On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, killing 4230 000 persons and placing an estimated 1.5 million into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. IDPs are at increased risk for communicable diseases resulting from unhealthy living conditions. The Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) established the internally displaced persons surveillance system (IDPSS) to detect outbreaks and characterize disease trends within these camps.

IDPSS gathers data on IDPs seen in clinics run by nongovernmental agencies (NGOs). Physician tally sheets are totaled and sent to the MSPP by E-mail or on paper for those without internet connection. Each Monday, analyses of surveillance data through the preceding week are distributed. Reports, guidelines, and forms are sent to MSPP partners and NGOs through the system’s Google group (Mountain View, CA, USA), an internet-based discussion forum.

 

Objective

We evaluated the IDPSS to determine its suitability for use during a complex humanitarian emergency.

Submitted by hparton on
Description

Syndromic surveillance has been widely adopted as a real-time monitoring tool in early response to disease outbreaks. In order to provide real-time information on the impact of 2009 H1N1 during the Fall 2009 semester, Georgetown University (GU) and George Washington University (GWU) employed syndromic surveillance systems incorporating a variety of data sources. 

 

Objective

To describe the 2009 H1N1 outbreak at GU and GWU in Fall 2009. Identify the datasets that most accurately depict 2009 H1N1 disease in real time.

Submitted by hparton on
Description

In November 2006, Ohioans supported a statute that set into law a requirement that all public places, and places of employment in Ohio prohibit smoking.1 The law took effect in December 2006; however, the rules for implementation were not finalized until June 2007. The primary purpose of the law was to protect employees in all workplaces from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. When determining how best to evaluate the health impact of a smoke-free law as it relates to secondhand smoke exposure, most studies have reviewed the incidence of heart attacks or AMIs. In the 2006 Surgeon General’s Report, ‘The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,’2 secondhand smoke exposure is causally associated with cardiovascular events, including AMI. The Institute of Medicine also released a report in 2009 from a meta-analysis, ‘Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects: Making Sense of the Evidence,’3 of 11 epidemiologic studies, reviewing the incidence of acute coronary events following the passing of a smoke-free law. Each of the 11 studies showed a decrease in heart attack rates after implementation of smoke-free laws. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this relationship in Ohio.

Objective

The objective of this study, after completion of the preliminary analysis, was to evaluate whether or not the smoke-free law in Ohio has made a positive change in reducing the effects of secondhand smoke exposure by comparing syndromic surveillance data (trends for emergency department, and urgent care chief complaint visits), related to heart attack and/or acute myocardial infarction (AMI) before and after the smoking ban.

 

Submitted by Magou on
Description

The Duval County Health Department (DCHD) serves a community of over one million people in Jacksonville, FL, USA. Each year, DCHD Epidemiology Program reports an average of 1133 (4-year average) notifiable diseases and conditions (NDC) with the exception of STD/HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis. Within Duval County, emergency medical care is provided by eight local hospitals, including one pediatric facility and a level-1 trauma center. These facilities contribute syndromic surveillance (SS) chief complaint (CC) data to the Electronic Surveillance System for Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics of Florida.

Historically, evaluations of SS systems have used ICD-9 diagnoses as the gold standard to determine predictive values. However, limited studies have surveyed reports of NDC to identify related emergency department (ED) visits and subsequent CC-based syndrome categorization. These data may provide public health investigators insight into health seeking behaviors, interpretation of SS signals, and prevalence of NDC within ED data.

 

Objective

This paper characterizes ED utilization among individuals diagnosed and reported with NDC. Furthermore, it evaluates the subsequent assignment of SS syndromes based on the patient’s CC during their ED visit.

Submitted by hparton on
Description

Approximately 100,000 New York City (NYC) residents are currently diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.1 Routine monitoring and treatment, where indicated, are necessary to reduce HBV disease progression. Using the 2017 European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) 2 guidelines on HBV infection management, we developed a surveillance-based definition for treatment eligibility. Validation of this definition will support the creation of a population-level HBV care continuum, which will allow us to monitor gaps from HBV diagnosis to viral suppression and to develop public health interventions to address these gaps.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of a surveillance-based definition for hepatitis B treatment eligibility among New York City residents with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In 2017, FL Department of Health (DOH) became one of thirty-two states plus Washington, D.C funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the ESOOS program. One of the objectives of this funding was to increase the timeliness of reporting on non-fatal opioid overdoses through syndromic surveillance utilizing either the emergency department (ED) or Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data systems. Syndromic case validation is an essential requirement under ESOOS for non-fatal opioid-involved overdose (OIOD). FL's ESOOS program conducted OIOD validation and quality monitoring of EMS case definitions, using data from FL's Emergency Medical Services Tracking and Reporting System (EMSTARS). We examined measurement validity with OIOD cases identified from FL's statewide hospital billing database, FL Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).

Objective: Assess the validity of Florida (FL) Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) non-fatal syndromic case definitions.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

This study uses data from the New Jersey syndromic surveillance system (EpiCenter) as a data source to enhance surveillance of current non-fatal occupational injuries, illnesses, and poisonings. EpiCenter was originally developed for early detection and monitoring of the health of communities using chief complaints from people seeking acute care in hospital emergency rooms to identify health trends. Currently, syndromic surveillance has not been widely applied to identify occupational injuries and illnesses. Incorporating syndromic surveillance data from EpiCenter, along with hospital discharge data, will enhance the classification and capture of work-related non-fatal injuries with possible improved efforts at prevention.

Objective: To evaluate the use of a real-time surveillance tool to track a variety of occupationally-related emergency room visits through the state based syndromic surveillance system, EpiCenter.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Since 2015, CDC’s Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance staff have conducted evaluations to provide information on the utility, functionality, usability and user satisfaction associated with the National Syndromic Surveillance Program’s BioSense Platform tools. The BioSense Platform tools include: 1) Access and Management Center (AMC), a tool that enables site administrators to manage users and data permissions; 2) Electronic Surveillance System for Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE), a software application that enables syndromic surveillance related data visualization and analysis; 3) Adminer, a tool that allows users to access site data on the datamart; and 4) Rstudio, an application that can be used for data analysis and visualization. The evaluation findings have informed activities that led to improvements in functionality, development or procurement of platform associated tools, and development of resource materials. In May 2018, NSSP conducted an evaluation with eight jurisdictions that participated in the first user acceptance testing (UAT) evaluations in 2015. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the present status of utility, functionality, usability and user satisfaction of the tools on the BioSense Platform, and delineate progress since 2015.

Objective: To assess the present status of utility, functionality, usability and user satisfaction of the BioSense Platform.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

State and local jurisdictions have been exploring the use of SyS data to monitor suspected drug overdose outbreaks in their communities. With the increasing awareness and use of SyS systems, staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) worked to develop several queries that jurisdictions could use to better capture suspected drug overdose visits. In 2017, CDC released their first two queries on heroin overdose and opioid overdose, followed in 2018 by stimulant and all drug overdose queries. Over time, and with the assistance from the SyS community and the CDC-funded Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) state health departments, CDC has revised the queries to address suggestions from jurisdictions. However, it'™s not clear how often and in what way the syndrome definitions are updated over time. This is particularly true as new drugs emerge and the names of those drugs are integrated into syndrome definitions (e.g., recent Spice and œK2 synthetic cannabinoid outbreaks).

Objective: To discuss the process for developing and revising suspected drug overdose queries in syndromic surveillance (SyS) systems.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

An important goal of surveillance is to inform public health interventions that aim to reduce the burden of disease in the population. Ensuring accuracy of results is paramount to achieving this goal. However, science is currently facing a reproducibility crisis where researchers have found it difficult or impossible to reproduce study results. Organized and well-documented statistical source code that is publicly available could increase research reproducibility, especially for research relying on publicly available surveillance data like the BRFSS, NHANES, GSS, SEER, and others. As part of our overall goal to improve training around reproducible research practices, we surveyed public health data analysts to determine current practices and barriers to code sharing.

Objective: Our presentation will explain current use, and barriers to use, of reproducible research practices in public health. We will also introduce a set of modules for researchers wishing to increase their use of reproducible research practices.

Submitted by elamb on