A number of syndromic surveillance systems include tools that quickly identify potentially large disease outbreak events. However, the high falsepositive rate continues to be a problem in all of these systems. Our earlier work has showed that multi-source information fusion can improve specificity of the syndromic surveillance systems. However, an anomalous health event that presents as only a few cases may remain undetected because the chief complaint data does not contain enough details. New linked data sources need to be used to enhance detection capabilities. The focus of this project examining the incorporation of laboratory, prescription medications and radiology data linked to the patient encounter within syndromic surveillance systems. These data source linkings may enhance the sensitivity of syndromic surveillance.
Prescription Drugs
THE KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE CDC ALL DRUG V2 - THE UPDATED SYNDROME DEFINITION CAN BE FOUND HERE.
THE KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE CDC OPIOID V3 - THE UPDATED SYNDROME DEFINITION CAN BE FOUND HERE.
THE KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE CDC STIMULANT OVERDOSE V3 - THE UPDATED SYNDROME DEFINITION CAN BE FOUND HERE.
While mass media coverage of bird flu often provides specific information that may prevent or contain the disease, it is often less than ideal; the public may become fearful and panic at the news of a potential outbreak of bird flu which has a high fatality case rate of more than 60% with no available proven vaccine while supplies of antivirals may be in short supply. As reported by Reuters (3/17/2006) using data from the CDC, a correlation was made between the intense media coverage of bird flu outbreaks overseas in the Fall of ‘05, and a ‘spike’ in sales of Tamiflu which was higher than at any other time over the previous 5 years; documented by syndromic surveillance of Medicaid scrips (NYS DOH), and retail pharmacy sales (NYC DOHMH), authorities suspect the drug was stockpiled.
Objective
To ascertain whether mass media reportage of bird flu outbreaks during the moderate US flu season of 2006-7 influenced sales of antivirals in NYC and Upstate NY as monitored by syndromic surveillance, and to compare such data to that generated during the moderate flu season of 2005-06 following a period of intense media coverage in the Fall of 2005.
Clinician reporting of notifiable diseases has historically been slow, labor intensive, and incomplete. Manual and electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) systems have increased the timeliness, efficiency, and completeness of notifiable disease reporting but cannot provide full demographic information about patients, integrate an array of pertinent lab tests to yield a diagnosis, describe patient signs and symptoms, pregnancy status, treatment rendered, or differentiate a new diagnosis or from follow-up of a known old diagnosis. Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are a promising resource to combine the timeliness and completeness of ELR systems with the clinical perspective of clinician initiated reporting. We describe an operational system that detects and reports patients with notifiable diseases to the state health department using EMR data.
Objective
To leverage EMR systems to improve the timeliness, completeness, and clinical detail of notifiable disease reporting.
Infection Control Law in Japan has asked doctors to cooperate in syndromic surveillance for pandemic flu and smallpox since 2007. However, doctors have to report by typing the number of patients on the web site, or by sending a fax to local public health centers. It imposes the heavy burden of reporting, and thus it has not worked well yet. Therefore, we need an automatic system for routine syndromic surveillance.
Objective
We performed some syndromic surveillance system for the Hokkaido Toyako G8 summit meeting in July 2008 in Japan as a counter-measure to bioterrorism attack or other health emergency. This presentation shows the workable syndromic surveillance systems in Japan.
The interest of medication sales data in Syndromic Surveillance is well recognized. In France, where a real-time computerized surveillance system of frequent communicable diseases based on Sentinel general practitioners (SGPs) provides since 1984 a gold standard to evaluate other indicators, it has been shown that medication sales provided early alerts for influenza. Gastroenteritis surveillance relies in France on the surveillance of acute diarrhea by the SGPs in the general population, since 1991. The main objective of this study is to validate, at a national level, new indicators based on medication sales data to facilitate the detection of gastroenteritis epidemics.
Objective
This study examines how medication sales data can detect gastroenteritis epidemics in France.
This paper describes a simple technique for utilizing linked health information in syndromic surveillance. Using knowledge of which patient encounters resulted in laboratory test requests and prescriptions may improve sensitivity and specificity of detection algorithms.
Drug sales data as an early indicator in syndromic surveillance has attracted particular interest in recent years, however previous studies were mostly conducted in developed countries or areas. In China, many people (around 60%) choose self-medication as their first option when they encounter a health problem, and electronic sales information system is gradually used by retail pharmacies, which makes drug sales data become a promising data source for syndromic surveillance in China.
Objective
To use an unconventional data - pharmaceutical sales surveillance for the early detection of respiratory and gastrointestinal epidemics in rural China.