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. 2022 Aug 24;12(8):e056615.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056615.

Cohort profile: the British Columbia COVID-19 Population Mixing Patterns Survey (BC-Mix)

Prince A Adu  1   2 , Mawuena Binka  1 , Bushra Mahmood  3 , Dahn Jeong  1   2 , Terri Buller-Taylor  1 , Makuza Jean Damascene  1   2 , Sarafa Iyaniwura  1   4 , Notice Ringa  1   2 , Héctor A Velásquez García  1   2 , Stanley Wong  1 , Amanda Yu  1 , Sofia Bartlett  1   5 , James Wilton  1 , Mike A Irvine  1   6 , Michael Otterstatter  1   2 , Naveed Zafar Janjua  7   2   8
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Cohort profile: the British Columbia COVID-19 Population Mixing Patterns Survey (BC-Mix)

Prince A Adu et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Purpose: Several non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as physical distancing, handwashing, self-isolation, and school and business closures, were implemented in British Columbia (BC) following the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 on 26 January 2020, to minimise in-person contacts that could spread infections. The BC COVID-19 Population Mixing Patterns Survey (BC-Mix) was established as a surveillance system to measure behaviour and contact patterns in BC over time to inform the timing of the easing/re-imposition of control measures. In this paper, we describe the BC-Mix survey design and the demographic characteristics of respondents.

Participants: The ongoing repeated online survey was launched in September 2020. Participants are mainly recruited through social media platforms (including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp). A follow-up survey is sent to participants 2-4 weeks after completing the baseline survey. Survey responses are weighted to BC's population by age, sex, geography and ethnicity to obtain generalisable estimates. Additional indices such as the Material and Social Deprivation Index, residential instability, economic dependency, and others are generated using census and location data.

Findings to date: As of 26 July 2021, over 61 000 baseline survey responses were received of which 41 375 were eligible for analysis. Of the eligible participants, about 60% consented to follow-up and about 27% provided their personal health numbers for linkage with healthcare databases. Approximately 83.5% of respondents were female, 58.7% were 55 years or older, 87.5% identified as white and 45.9% had at least a university degree. After weighting, approximately 50% were female, 39% were 55 years or older, 65% identified as white and 50% had at least a university degree.

Future plans: Multiple papers describing contact patterns, physical distancing measures, regular handwashing and facemask wearing, modelling looking at impact of physical distancing measures and vaccine acceptance, hesitancy and uptake are either in progress or have been published.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Health & safety; PUBLIC HEALTH.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow chart for British Columbia COVID-19 Population Mixing Patterns Survey (baseline and first eight follow-up data).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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