Fatal Infectious Disease Surveillance in a Medical Examiner Database
| Autor: | Mitchell I. Wolfe, Kurt B. Nolte, Steven S. Yoon |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2004 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 48-53 (2004) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 1080-6040 1080-6059 |
| DOI: | 10.3201/eid1001.020764 |
| Popis: | Increasing infectious disease deaths, the emergence of new infections, and bioterrorism have made surveillance for infectious diseases a public health concern. Medical examiners and coroners certify approximately 20% of all deaths that occur within the United States and can be a key source of information regarding infectious disease deaths. We hypothesized that a computer-assisted search tool (algorithm) could detect infectious disease deaths from a medical examiner database, thereby reducing the time and resources required to perform such surveillance manually. We developed two algorithms, applied them to a medical examiner database, and verified the cases identified against the opinion of a panel of experts. The algorithms detected deaths with infectious components with sensitivities from 67% to 94%, and predictive value positives ranging from 8% to 49%. Algorithms can be useful for surveillance in medical examiner offices that have limited resources or for conducting surveillance across medical examiner jurisdictions. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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