Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Sep-Oct;14(5):626-31.
doi: 10.1197/jamia.M2328. Epub 2007 Jun 28.

Timeliness of data sources used for influenza surveillance

Lynne Dailey  1 , Rochelle E Watkins, Aileen J Plant
Affiliations

Timeliness of data sources used for influenza surveillance

Lynne Dailey et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2007 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Objective: In recent years, influenza surveillance data has expanded to include alternative sources such as emergency department data, absenteeism reports, pharmaceutical sales, website access and health advice calls. This study presents a review of alternative data sources for influenza surveillance, summarizes the time advantage or timeliness of each source relative to traditional reporting and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of competing approaches.

Methods: A literature search was conducted on Medline to identify relevant articles published after 1990. A total of 15 articles were obtained that reported the timeliness of an influenza surveillance system. Timeliness was described by peak comparison, aberration detection comparison and correlation.

Results: Overall, the data sources were highly correlated with traditional sources and had variable timeliness. Over-the-counter pharmaceutical sales, emergency visits, absenteeism and health calls appear to be more timely than physician diagnoses, sentinel influenza-like-illness surveillance and virological confirmation.

Conclusions: The methods used to describe timeliness vary greatly between studies and hence no strong conclusions regarding the most timely source/s of data can be reached. Future studies should apply the aberration detection method to determine data source timeliness in preference to the peak comparison method and correlation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three methods for determining the timeliness of data source A compared to data source B.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Sosin D. Draft framework for evaluating syndromic surveillance systems J Urban Health 2003;80(2 (suppl 1)):i8-i13. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Labus B. Practical applications of syndromic surveillance: 2003–2004 influenza season. 2004. Available at: http://www.naccho.org/topics/emergency/APC/E-Link/Archive_2004.cfm. Accessed on 10/11/2005.
    1. Stoto M, Fricker R, Jain A, Davies-Cole JO, Glymph C, Kidane G, et al. Evaluating statistical methods for syndromic surveillanceIn: Wilson AG, Wilson GD, Olwell DH, editors. Statistical Methods in Counterterrorism. New York, NY: Springer; 2006. pp. 141-172.
    1. Hogan WR, Tsui FC, Ivanov O, Gesteland PH, Grannis S, Overhage JM, et al. Detection of pediatric respiratory and diarrheal outbreaks from sales of over-the-counter electrolyte products J Am Med Inform Assoc 2003;10(6):555-562Nov-Dec. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Magruder S. Evaluation of over-the-counter pharmaceutical sales as a possible early warning indicator of human disease Johns Hopkins APL Tech Digest 2003;24(4):349-353.

Publication types