Emergency Medical Services and Syndromic Surveillance: A Comparison With Traditional Surveillance and Effects on Timeliness.
Public Health Rep
; 136(1_suppl): 72S-79S, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1495836
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Traditional public health surveillance of nonfatal opioid overdose relies on emergency department (ED) billing data, which can be delayed substantially. We compared the timeliness of 2 new data sources for rapid drug overdose surveillance-emergency medical services (EMS) and syndromic surveillance-with ED billing data.METHODS:
We used data on nonfatal opioid overdoses in Kentucky captured in EMS, syndromic surveillance, and ED billing systems during 2018-2019. We evaluated the time-series relationships between EMS and ED billing data and syndromic surveillance and ED billing data by calculating cross-correlation functions, controlling for influences of autocorrelations. A case example demonstrates the usefulness of EMS and syndromic surveillance data to monitor rapid changes in opioid overdose encounters in Kentucky during the COVID-19 epidemic.RESULTS:
EMS and syndromic surveillance data showed moderate-to-strong correlation with ED billing data on a lag of 0 (r = 0.694; 95% CI, 0.579-0.782; t = 9.73; df = 101; P < .001; and r = 0.656; 95% CI, 0.530-0.754; t = 8.73; df = 101; P < .001; respectively) at the week-aggregated level. After the COVID-19 emergency declaration, EMS and syndromic surveillance time series had steep increases in April and May 2020, followed by declines from June through September 2020. The ED billing data were available for analysis 3 months after the end of a calendar quarter but closely followed the trends identified by the EMS and syndromic surveillance data.CONCLUSION:
Data from EMS and syndromic surveillance systems can be reliably used to monitor nonfatal opioid overdose trends in Kentucky in near-real time to inform timely public health response.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Population Surveillance
/
Sentinel Surveillance
/
Emergency Medical Services
/
Drug Overdose
/
Public Health Surveillance
/
Analgesics, Opioid
/
Opioid-Related Disorders
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Public Health Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
00333549211018673
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