TY - JOUR
T1 - High added value of a population-based participatory surveillance system for community acute gastrointestinal, respiratory and influenza-like illnesses in Sweden, 2013-2014 using the web
AU - Pini, A.
AU - Merk, H.
AU - Carnahan, A.
AU - Galanis, I.
AU - Van Straten, E.
AU - Danis, K.
AU - Edelstein, M.
AU - Wallensten, A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - In 2013-2014, the Public Health Agency of Sweden developed a web-based participatory surveillance system, Hälsorapport, based on a random sample of individuals reporting symptoms weekly online, to estimate the community incidence of self-reported acute gastrointestinal (AGI), acute respiratory (ARI) and influenza-like (ILI) illnesses and their severity. We evaluated Hälsorapport's acceptability, completeness, representativeness and its data correlation with other surveillance data. We calculated response proportions and Spearman correlation coefficients (r) between (i) incidence of illnesses in Hälsorapport and (ii) proportions of specific search terms to medical-advice website and reasons for calling a medical advice hotline. Of 34 748 invitees, 3245 (9·3%) joined the cohort. Participants answered 81% (139 013) of the weekly questionnaires and 90% (16 351) of follow-up questionnaires. AGI incidence correlated with searches on winter-vomiting disease [r = 0·81, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0·69-0·89], and ARI incidence correlated with searches on cough (r = 0·77, 95% CI 0·62-0·86). ILI incidence correlated with the web query-based estimated incidence of ILI patients consulting physicians (r = 0·63, 95% CI 0·42-0·77). The high response to different questionnaires and the correlation with other syndromic surveillance systems suggest that Hälsorapport offers a reasonable representation of AGI, ARI and ILI patterns in the community and can complement traditional and syndromic surveillance systems to estimate their burden in the community.
AB - In 2013-2014, the Public Health Agency of Sweden developed a web-based participatory surveillance system, Hälsorapport, based on a random sample of individuals reporting symptoms weekly online, to estimate the community incidence of self-reported acute gastrointestinal (AGI), acute respiratory (ARI) and influenza-like (ILI) illnesses and their severity. We evaluated Hälsorapport's acceptability, completeness, representativeness and its data correlation with other surveillance data. We calculated response proportions and Spearman correlation coefficients (r) between (i) incidence of illnesses in Hälsorapport and (ii) proportions of specific search terms to medical-advice website and reasons for calling a medical advice hotline. Of 34 748 invitees, 3245 (9·3%) joined the cohort. Participants answered 81% (139 013) of the weekly questionnaires and 90% (16 351) of follow-up questionnaires. AGI incidence correlated with searches on winter-vomiting disease [r = 0·81, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0·69-0·89], and ARI incidence correlated with searches on cough (r = 0·77, 95% CI 0·62-0·86). ILI incidence correlated with the web query-based estimated incidence of ILI patients consulting physicians (r = 0·63, 95% CI 0·42-0·77). The high response to different questionnaires and the correlation with other syndromic surveillance systems suggest that Hälsorapport offers a reasonable representation of AGI, ARI and ILI patterns in the community and can complement traditional and syndromic surveillance systems to estimate their burden in the community.
KW - Acute gastrointestinal illness
KW - acute respiratory illness
KW - influenza-like illness
KW - population-based study
KW - surveillance system
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85011317548&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0950268816003290
DO - 10.1017/S0950268816003290
M3 - مقالة مرجعية
C2 - 28137317
SN - 0950-2688
VL - 145
SP - 1193
EP - 1202
JO - Epidemiology and Infection
JF - Epidemiology and Infection
IS - 6
ER -
