[Incidence of invasive meningococcal diseases in children in Northern France: usefulness and limits of the discharge code database for correcting compulsory notification data]

Abstract

Surveillance of invasive meningococcal diseases (IMD) is based on mandatory reporting. Evaluation of the exhaustivity of the surveillance with capture-recapture analysis can correct for underreporting.

Aim: To evaluate IMD incidence in children in Northern France from 2 databases and to determine the usefulness of the regional hospital reporting database for correcting mandatory reported data.

Patients and methods: Regional study of IMD incidence in children under 18 years of age, between the years 2002 and 2005, by a secondary analysis of 2 databases: the regional hospital reporting database administered by the Department of Medical Information (DIM) and the mandatory reporting health authorities database (DDASS). The corrected incidence of IMD was determined using a capture-recapture method.

Results: Three hundred and eleven cases of IMD were reported in at least 1 database. Of the 233 patients identified in the DIM database, 23 were not reported in the DDASS database, but 78 retrieved in the DDASS database were missed by the DIM. Database exhaustivity varied between years from 70 to 75% for the DIM and from 83 to 99% for the DDASS database. The corrected incidence of IMD varied from 6.9 to 9.4/100,000 children between 2002 and 2005. IMD incidence of children less than 1 year of age reached 44.5/100,000 in 2005. IMD attributable to serogroup B were predominant (56%).

Conclusion: In this study, the DIM database provided a useful independent correction of mandatory reporting, although it remained insufficient. A high IMD incidence in children was identified in Northern France, especially in children less than 1 year of age.