Venkat, A., Falconi, T.M.A., Cruz, M. et al. (6 more authors) (2019) Spatiotemporal patterns of cholera hospitalization in Vellore, India. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16 (21). 4257. ISSN 1661-7827
Abstract
Systematically collected hospitalization records provide valuable insight into disease patterns and support comprehensive national infectious disease surveillance networks. Hospitalization records detailing patient’s place of residence (PoR) can be utilized to better understand a hospital’s case load and strengthen surveillance among mobile populations. This study examined geographic patterns of patients treated for cholera at a major hospital in south India. We abstracted 1401 laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera between 2000–2014 from logbooks and electronic health records (EHRs) maintained by the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. We constructed spatial trend models and identified two distinct clusters of patient residence—one around Vellore (836 records (61.2%)) and one in Bengal (294 records (21.5%)). We further characterized differences in peak timing and disease trend among these clusters to identify differences in cholera exposure among local and visiting populations. We found that the two clusters differ by their patient profiles, with patients in the Bengal cluster being most likely older males traveling to Vellore. Both clusters show well-aligned seasonal peaks in mid-July, only one week apart, with similar downward trend and proportion of predominant O1 serotype. Large hospitals can thus harness EHRs for surveillance by utilizing patients’ PoRs to study disease patterns among resident and visitor populations.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | spatial statistics; disease clusters; cholera; hospitalization; India; electronic health records (EHR); mobile population |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 Feb 2020 14:53 |
Last Modified: | 26 Feb 2020 18:03 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI AG |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/ijerph16214257 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:157035 |
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