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Electronic Syndromic Surveillance for Influenza-Like Illness Across Treatment Settings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2016

Jessica P. Ridgway ,
Diane Lauderdale ,
Ronald Thisted  and
Ari Robicsek
Jessica P. Ridgway*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Diane Lauderdale
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Ronald Thisted
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Ari Robicsek
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Department of Clinical Analytics, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, Illinois
*
Address correspondence to Jessica P. Ridgway, University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave, MC 5065, Chicago, IL 60637 (jessica.ridgway@uchospitals.edu).
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE

Syndromic surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI) is predominantly performed in the outpatient setting. The objective of this study was to compare patterns of ILI activity in outpatient, emergency department (ED), and inpatient settings using an electronic syndromic surveillance algorithm.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study over 7.5 years.

SETTING

A large community health system comprised of 5 hospitals and >50 clinics.

METHODS

We applied an electronic syndromic surveillance algorithm for ILI to all primary-care outpatient visits, inpatient encounters, and ED encounters at our health system. Comparisons of ILI activity over time were performed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Cross correlation was used to compare the timing of ILI activity among treatment settings.

RESULTS

Overall, 4,447,769 patient encounters occurred during the study period; 152,607 of these (3.4%) were consistent with ILI. The correlation coefficient for ILI activity in the outpatient versus ED setting was 0.877, and for the outpatient versus inpatient setting, the correlation coefficient was 0.699. ILI activity among outpatients preceded ILI activity among inpatients by 1 week. ILI activity among children in the outpatient setting preceded ILI activity among adults in all 3 settings by 1 week.

CONCLUSIONS

Syndromic surveillance for ILI in the outpatient setting yields similar results to surveillance in the ED setting, but it produces less similar results than ILI surveillance in the inpatient setting. ILI activity in the pediatric outpatient population is a potential predictor of future ILI activity in the general population.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:393–398

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , April 2017 , pp. 393 - 398
Copyright
© 2016 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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Footnotes

PREVIOUS PRESENTATION: Preliminary data from this study were previously presented at IDWeek, October 10, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

References

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