Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34374036›Full record

ArticleCanadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique2021

Detection of COVID-19 case clusters in Québec, May-October 2020.

Germain Lebel, Élise Fortin, Ernest Lo, Marie-Claude Boivin, Matthieu Tandonnet, Nathalie Gravel

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 31% 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

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Methods Used in the Spatial and Spatiotemporal Analysis of COVID-19 Epidemiology: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
    Pooled it
  2. 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

6 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Germain LebelInstitut national de santé publique du Québec, Québec and Montréal, Canada.
Élise FortinInstitut national de santé publique du Québec, Québec and Montréal, Canada. elise.fortin@inspq.qc.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6612-9091
Ernest LoInstitut national de santé publique du Québec, Québec and Montréal, Canada.
Marie-Claude BoivinInstitut national de santé publique du Québec, Québec and Montréal, Canada.
Matthieu TandonnetInstitut national de santé publique du Québec, Québec and Montréal, Canada.
Nathalie GravelInstitut national de santé publique du Québec, Québec and Montréal, Canada.
Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe Quebec Public Health Institute (INSPQ) was mandated to develop an automated tool for detecting space-time COVID-19 case clusters to assist regional public health authorities in identifying situations that require public health interventions. This article aims to describe the methodology used and to document the main outcomes achieved.

methodsNew COVID-19 cases are supplied by the "Trajectoire de santé publique" information system, geolocated to civic addresses and then aggregated by day and dissemination area. To target community-level clusters, cases identified as residents of congregate living settings are excluded from the cluster detection analysis. Detection is performed using the space-time scan statistic and Poisson statistical model, and implemented in the SaTScan software. Information on detected clusters is disseminated daily via an online interactive mapping interface.

resultsThe number of clusters detected tracked with the number of new cases. Slightly more than 4900 statistically significant (p ≤ 0.01) space-time clusters were detected over 14 health regions from May to October 2020. The Montréal region was the most affected.

conclusionConsidering the objective of timely cluster detection, the use of near-real-time health surveillance data of varying quality over time and by region constitutes an acceptable compromise between timeliness and data quality. This tool serves to supplement the epidemiologic investigations carried out by regional public health authorities for purposes of COVID-19 management and prevention.

Indexed as

COVID-19Public HealthCluster AnalysisHumansQuebecCOVID-19Disease surveillanceSaTScanSpace-time clusters

Identifiers

PMID34374036
PMCPMC8352554
OpenAlexW3189604282

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.