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. 2020 Jan;26(1):148-150.
doi: 10.3201/eid2601.181520.

Use of Ambulance Dispatch Calls for Surveillance of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections

Susana Monge, Janneke Duijster, Geert Jan Kommer, Jan van de Kassteele, Gé A Donker, Thomas Krafft, Paul Engelen, Jens P Valk, Jan de Waard, Jan de Nooij, Wim van der Hoek, Liselotte van Asten

Use of Ambulance Dispatch Calls for Surveillance of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections

Susana Monge et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Ambulance dispatches for respiratory syndromes reflect incidence of influenza-like illness in primary care. Associations are highest in children (15%-34% of respiratory calls attributable to influenza), out-of-office hours (9%), and highest urgency-level calls (9%-11%). Ambulance dispatches might be an additional source of data for severe influenza surveillance.

Keywords: ambulance; emergency medical services; influenza; public health surveillance; respiratory infections; respiratory syndrome; the Netherlands; viruses.

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Figures

Figure
Figure
Observed and predicted weekly proportion of ambulance dispatch calls with respiratory syndromes from the multivariate models. The gray area represents the proportion that the model identifies as the baseline (i.e., attributable to unidentified factors); the colored area is the proportion of ambulance dispatch calls with respiratory syndromes attributed to influenza-like illness. The black line is the 5-week moving average of the observed proportion of respiratory syndromes. A) Overall; B) patients <15 years of age; C) patients 15–64 years of age; D) patients >65 years of age; E) calls during office hours; F) calls during out of office hours; G) calls of urgency level A1.
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