Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31014314›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2019

Estimation of cumulative number of post-treatment Lyme disease cases in the US, 2016 and 2020.

Allison DeLong, Mayla Hsu, Harriet Kotsoris

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.3field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
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

40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. A Lyme disease mRNA vaccine targetingMolecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2025
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  14. Long COVID or Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) and the Urgent Need to Identify Diagnostic Biomarkers and Risk Factors.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2024
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
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  18. Suppression of host humoral immunity byInfection and immunity · 2024
    Article
  19. Developing a Prospective Gestational Lyme Disease Study.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2024
    Article
  20. Article
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

3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Allison DeLongCenter for Statistical Sciences, School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA. Allison_DeLong@Brown.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8660-8073
Mayla HsuGlobal Lyme Alliance, Stamford, CT, USA.
Harriet Kotsoris, Greenwich, CT, USA.
Brown University · USGlobal Lyme Alliance · USGreenwich Hospital · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLyme disease (LD) is an infectious multi-system illness caused by the bacterial genus Borrelia and spread by bites of infected ticks. Although most patients are successfully treated by timely antibiotic therapy, it is broadly accepted that a sizeable number of patients experience treatment failure and continue to suffer long-term, debilitating symptoms, including pain, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction and other symptoms. This is known as post-treatment LD (PTLD), for which diagnosis is not standardized and treatment remains controversial. The prevalence and societal burden of PTLD is unknown.

methodsIn an effort to help characterize the LD landscape, we estimated the number of PTLD cases in the US in 2016 and 2020 using Monte-Carlo simulation techniques, publically-available demographic datasets, uncertainty in the inputs and realistic assumptions about incidence and treatment failure rates.

resultsDepending on the input assumptions, PTLD prevalence estimates for 2016 ranged from 69,011 persons (95% CI 51,796 to 89,312) to 1,523,869 (CI 1,268,634 to 1,809,416). Prevalence in 2020 is predicted to be higher than 2016, and may be as high as 1,944,189 (CI 1,619,988 to 2,304,147) cases.

conclusionsThe cumulative prevalence of PLTD in the United States is estimated to be high and continues to increase. These findings will be of interest to epidemiologists and health economists studying disease burden in the US and elsewhere, and justify funding to study PTLD diagnosis and treatment.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAge DistributionAnimalsChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantMaleMiddle AgedMonte Carlo MethodPost-Lyme Disease SyndromePrevalence

Identifiers

PMID31014314
PMCPMC6480773
OpenAlexW2946930830

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.