ReviewJMIR public health and surveillance2021
Effectiveness of Contact Tracing for Viral Disease Mitigation and Suppression: Evidence-Based Review.
Review in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- COVID-19 Contact Tracing Strategies During the First Wave of the Pandemic: Systematic Review of Published Studies.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Pooled it
- Transforming a Pandemic Tool Into a Public Health Asset: Modified Delphi Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Assessing the effectiveness of test-trace-isolate interventions using a multi-layered temporal network.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2025Article
- Emergence and Global Spread of Mpox Clade Ib: Challenges and the Role of Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Review
- Gender differences in correlation of biochemical parameters with the severity of covid pneumonia and the need for oxygen/mechanical support.Journal of medical biochemistry · 2025Article
- Spatio-temporal forecasting of COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands for source and contact tracing.International journal of population data science · 2025Article
- Tracking cryptic SARS-CoV-2 hospital outbreak through quasispecies analysis.Virology journal · 2024Article
- The optimal spatially-dependent control measures to effectively and economically eliminate emerging infectious diseases.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Lessons Learned from the Launch and Implementation of the COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program in New York City: a Qualitative Study.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2024Article
- COVID-19 cluster surveillance using exposure data collected from routine contact tracing: The genomic validation of a novel informatics-based approach to outbreak detection in England.PLOS digital health · 2024Article
- Clinical and Analytical Performance of ELISA Salivary Serologic Assay to Detect SARS-CoV-2 IgG in Children and Adults.Antibodies (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Quarantine Mandated by Contact Tracing: Burden and Infection Rate Among Close Contacts in Zurich, Switzerland, 2020-2021.International journal of public health · 2024Article
- Use of a digital contact tracing system in Singapore to mitigate COVID-19 spread.BMC public health · 2023Review
- Evaluation of a new molecular test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid in salivary samples.Journal of medical biochemistry · 2023Article
- Cultural Implications Regarding Privacy in Digital Contact Tracing Algorithms: Method Development and Empirical Ethics Analysis of a German and a Japanese Approach to Contact Tracing.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Cross-sectional survey of compliance behaviour, knowledge and attitudes among cases and close contacts during COVID-19 pandemic.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Contact Tracing as an Indicator for Evaluating a Pandemic Situation: Simulation Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Impacts of public health and social measures on COVID-19 in Europe: a review and modified Delphi technique.Frontiers in public health · 2023Review
- Personal protective measures and settings on the risk of SARS-COV-2 community transmission: a case-control study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Factors Influencing the Adoption of Voluntary Nonpharmaceutical Interventions to Control COVID-19 in Japan: Cross-sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
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 at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundContact tracing in association with quarantine and isolation is an important public health tool to control outbreaks of infectious diseases. This strategy has been widely implemented during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The effectiveness of this nonpharmaceutical intervention is largely dependent on social interactions within the population and its combination with other interventions. Given the high transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2, short serial intervals, and asymptomatic transmission patterns, the effectiveness of contact tracing for this novel viral agent is largely unknown.
objectiveThis study aims to identify and synthesize evidence regarding the effectiveness of contact tracing on infectious viral disease outcomes based on prior scientific literature.
methodsAn evidence-based review was conducted to identify studies from the PubMed database, including preprint medRxiv server content, related to the effectiveness of contact tracing in viral outbreaks. The search dates were from database inception to July 24, 2020. Outcomes of interest included measures of incidence, transmission, hospitalization, and mortality.
resultsOut of 159 unique records retrieved, 45 (28.3%) records were reviewed at the full-text level, and 24 (15.1%) records met all inclusion criteria. The studies included utilized mathematical modeling (n=14), observational (n=8), and systematic review (n=2) approaches. Only 2 studies considered digital contact tracing. Contact tracing was mostly evaluated in combination with other nonpharmaceutical interventions and/or pharmaceutical interventions. Although some degree of effectiveness in decreasing viral disease incidence, transmission, and resulting hospitalizations and mortality was observed, these results were highly dependent on epidemic severity (R0 value), number of contacts traced (including presymptomatic and asymptomatic cases), timeliness, duration, and compliance with combined interventions (eg, isolation, quarantine, and treatment). Contact tracing effectiveness was particularly limited by logistical challenges associated with increased outbreak size and speed of infection spread.
conclusionsTimely deployment of contact tracing strategically layered with other nonpharmaceutical interventions could be an effective public health tool for mitigating and suppressing infectious outbreaks by decreasing viral disease incidence, transmission, and resulting hospitalizations and mortality.
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.