Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28692392›Full record

ArticlePublic health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)

Evaluation of a Novel Syndromic Surveillance Query for Heat-Related Illness Using Hospital Data From Maricopa County, Arizona, 2015.

Jessica R White, Vjollca Berisha, Kathryn Lane, Henri Ménager, Aaron Gettel, Carol R Braun, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Heat Syndrome Workgroup

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Evaluation of a Canadian heat illness-related emergency department visit surveillance system.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Jessica R White1 Office of Epidemiology, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Vjollca Berisha1 Office of Epidemiology, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Kathryn Lane2 Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Policy, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY, USA.
Henri Ménager3 Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Topeka, KS, USA.
Aaron Gettel1 Office of Epidemiology, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Carol R Braun4 Bureau of Environmental Epidemiology, Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, Jefferson City, MO, USA.
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Heat Syndrome Workgroup

Funding

PPHF-13-NATIONAL ENVIRONMETAL PUB HLTH TRACKING NETWORK, PLANNING & CAP BUILDU38EH000618 · EH · KANSAS STATE DEPT OF HLTH AND ENVIRONMNT · PI AHMED, FARAH · 2009 to 2015
$3.9M
NCEH CDC HHS U38 EH000618
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesWe evaluated a novel syndromic surveillance query, developed by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Heat Syndrome Workgroup, for identifying heat-related illness cases in near real time, using emergency department and inpatient hospital data from Maricopa County, Arizona, in 2015.

methodsThe Maricopa County Department of Public Health applied 2 queries for heat-related illness to area hospital data transmitted to the National Syndromic Surveillance Program BioSense Platform: the BioSense "heat, excessive" query and the novel CSTE query. We reviewed the line lists generated by each query and used the diagnosis code and chief complaint text fields to find probable cases of heat-related illness. For each query, we calculated positive predictive values (PPVs) for heat-related illness.

resultsThe CSTE query identified 674 records, of which 591 were categorized as probable heat-related illness, demonstrating a PPV of 88% for heat-related illness. The BioSense query identified 791 patient records, of which 589 were probable heat-related illness, demonstrating a PPV of 74% for heat-related illness. The PPV was substantially higher for the CSTE novel and BioSense queries during the heat season (May 1 to September 30; 92% and 85%, respectively) than during the cooler seasons (55% and 29%, respectively).

conclusionA novel query for heat-related illness that combined diagnosis codes, chief complaint text terms, and exclusion criteria had a high PPV for heat-related illness, particularly during the heat season. Public health departments can use this query to meet local needs; however, use of this novel query to substantially improve public health heat-related illness prevention remains to be seen.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedArizonaChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHeat StrokeHospitalsHumansMaleMedical RecordsMiddle AgedPopulation SurveillancePublic Healthepidemiologyheat stress disorderssyndromic surveillance

Identifiers

PMID28692392
PMCPMC5676503

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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.