SynthesisBulletin of the World Health Organization2014
Effectiveness of travel restrictions in the rapid containment of human influenza: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04663776 (Wide Scale Monitoring for Acute Respiratory Infection Using a Mobile-Based Study Platform), which is not on this map. Cited by 62 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Wide Scale Monitoring for Acute Respiratory Infection Using a Mobile-Based Study Platform
Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Lessons from past pandemics: a systematic review of evidence-based, cost-effective interventions to suppress COVID-19.Systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Classification Schemes of COVID-19 High Risk Areas and Resulting Policies: A Rapid Review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Evidence of the effectiveness of travel-related measures during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid systematic review.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions targeted at COVID-19 pandemic on influenza burden - a systematic review.The Journal of infection · 2021Pooled it
- The Evolving Policy Debate on Border Closure in Korea.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2020Pooled it
- The roles of transportation and transportation hubs in the propagation of influenza and coronaviruses: a systematic review.Journal of travel medicine · 2016Pooled it
- Effectiveness of travel restrictions in the rapid containment of human influenza: a systematic review.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2014Pooled it
- Article
- Pre-departure PCR testing of travellers for SARS-CoV-2 was an effective tool in limiting transmission in Greenland during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The Discovery of Phages in the Substantia Nigra and Its Implication for Parkinson's Disease.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Article
- Evaluation of risk-based travel policy for the COVID-19 epidemic in Scotland: a population-based surveillance study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Spatiotemporal dynamics of epidemiology diseases: mobility based risk and short-term prediction modeling of COVID-19.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Analysis of the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions on influenza during the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic by time-series forecasting.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Complex Interplay between Population Immunity and Viral Dynamics.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- The impact of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning design features on the transmission of viruses, including the 2019 novel coronavirus: A systematic review of filtration.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Quasi-experimental evaluation of national border closures on COVID-19 transmission.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- The impact of air travel on the precocity and severity of COVID-19 deaths in sub-national areas across 45 countries.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The pros and cons of entry restrictions: are entry restrictions really effective in preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2?Journal of Yeungnam medical science · 2022Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the effectiveness of internal and international travel restrictions in the rapid containment of influenza.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review according to the requirements of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Health-care databases and grey literature were searched and screened for records published before May 2014. Data extraction and assessments of risk of bias were undertaken by two researchers independently. Results were synthesized in a narrative form.
findingsThe overall risk of bias in the 23 included studies was low to moderate. Internal travel restrictions and international border restrictions delayed the spread of influenza epidemics by one week and two months, respectively. International travel restrictions delayed the spread and peak of epidemics by periods varying between a few days and four months. Travel restrictions reduced the incidence of new cases by less than 3%. Impact was reduced when restrictions were implemented more than six weeks after the notification of epidemics or when the level of transmissibility was high. Travel restrictions would have minimal impact in urban centres with dense populations and travel networks. We found no evidence that travel restrictions would contain influenza within a defined geographical area.
conclusionExtensive travel restrictions may delay the dissemination of influenza but cannot prevent it. The evidence does not support travel restrictions as an isolated intervention for the rapid containment of influenza. Travel restrictions would make an extremely limited contribution to any policy for rapid containment of influenza at source during the first emergence of a pandemic virus.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.