What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate the feasibility and timeliness of using automated ambulatory medical records for syndromic surveillance of lower respiratory infections to detect seasonal outbreaks and bioterrorism events.

October 22, 2001BMC Public HealthOpen Access

Using automated medical records for rapid identification of illness syndromes (syndromic surveillance): the example of lower respiratory infection

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Authors

RLRoss LazarusRoyal Australian College of General Practitioners KKKen KleinmanIntermountain Healthcare IDInna DashevskyHarvard University

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Implication

Observational study demonstrates automated medical record monitoring tracks respiratory illness patterns in real time, highlighting utility for early outbreak and bioterrorism detection.

Key Points

To evaluate the feasibility and timeliness of using automated ambulatory medical records for syndromic surveillance of lower respiratory infections to detect seasonal outbreaks and bioterrorism events.
Analyzed automated medical records from 1996 through 1999 across approximately 250,000 health plan members (1,143,208 person-years) in greater Boston.
Identified diagnostic billing codes (ICD-9-CM) for lower respiratory infections and mapped weekly occurrence patterns against national mortality data.
Identified 152,435 lower respiratory illness visits across 106,670 episodes, with cough (ICD-9-CM 786.2), pneumonia (ICD-9-CM 486), and acute bronchitis (ICD-9-CM 466.0) accounting for 91% of visits.
Weekly automated counts closely mirrored national pneumonia and influenza mortality trends and made surveillance data available within one day of clinical presentation.

Cite This Study

Lazarus et al. (2001) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a0ef812950456576347ee37 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-1-9

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Implication

Observational study demonstrates automated medical record monitoring tracks respiratory illness patterns in real time, highlighting utility for early outbreak and bioterrorism detection.

Using automated medical records for rapid identification of illness syndromes (syndromic surveillance): the example of lower respiratory infection

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Using automated medical records for rapid identification of illness syndromes (syndromic surveillance): the example of lower respiratory infection

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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