Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33740907›Full record

ArticleBMC infectious diseases2021

Divergences on expected pneumonia cases during the COVID-19 epidemic in Catalonia: a time-series analysis of primary care electronic health records covering about 6 million people.

Ermengol Coma, Leonardo Méndez-Boo, Núria Mora, Carolina Guiriguet, Mència Benítez, Francesc Fina, Mireia Fàbregas, Elisabet Balló, Francisa Ramos, Manuel Medina and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 11% 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

7 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

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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

11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Ermengol ComaSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain. ecomaredon@gencat.cat.
Leonardo Méndez-BooSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Núria MoraSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Carolina GuiriguetSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Mència BenítezSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Francesc FinaSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Mireia FàbregasSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Elisabet BallóSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Francisa RamosSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Manuel MedinaSistemes d'Informació dels Serveis d'Atenció Primària (SISAP), Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 587, 08007, Barcelona, Spain.
Josep M ArgimonInstitut Català de la Salut (ICS), Barcelona, Spain.
Institut Català de la Salut · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPneumonia is one of the complications of COVID-19. Primary care electronic health records (EHR) have shown the utility as a surveillance system. We therefore analyse the trends of pneumonia during two waves of COVID-19 pandemic in order to use it as a clinical surveillance system and an early indicator of severity.

methodsTime series analysis of pneumonia cases, from January 2014 to December 2020. We collected pneumonia diagnoses from primary care EHR, a software system covering > 6 million people in Catalonia (Spain). We compared the trend of pneumonia in the season 2019-2020 with that in the previous years. We estimated the expected pneumonia cases with data from 2014 to 2018 using a time series regression adjusted by seasonality and influenza epidemics.

resultsBetween 4 March and 5 May 2020, 11,704 excess pneumonia cases (95% CI: 9909 to 13,498) were identified. Previously, we identified an excess from January to March 2020 in the population older than 15 years of 20%. We observed another excess pneumonia period from 22 october to 15 november of 1377 excess cases (95% CI: 665 to 2089). In contrast, we observed two great periods with reductions of pneumonia cases in children, accounting for 131 days and 3534 less pneumonia cases (95% CI, 1005 to 6064) from March to July; and 54 days and 1960 less pneumonia cases (95% CI 917 to 3002) from October to December.

conclusionsDiagnoses of pneumonia from the EHR could be used as an early and low cost surveillance system to monitor the spread of COVID-19.

Indexed as

COVID-19Electronic Health RecordsPandemicsAdolescentAdultAgedChildHumansInfluenza, HumanMaleMiddle AgedPneumoniaPrimary Health CareSeasonsSpainYoung AdultCoronavirusCOVID-19Electronic health recordsPneumonia;public health surveillancePrimary care

Identifiers

PMID33740907
PMCPMC7979451
OpenAlexW3138636955

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.