ArticleEpidemiology and infection2021
Developing a sentinel syndromic surveillance system using school-absenteeism data, example monitoring absences over the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Epidemiology and infection, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of early warning systems in the detection of infectious diseases outbreaks: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Evaluation of Kindergarten Through Grade 12 All-Cause Absenteeism Data as an Indicator and Predictor of Respiratory Disease, 2018-2022.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 2025Article
- School-level data on COVID-19 cases, quarantines, and student absenteeism during the COVID-19 pandemic: understanding missingness.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Pilot Influenza Syndromic Surveillance System Based on Absenteeism and Temperature in China: Development and Usability Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2022Article
- In-Person Schooling Amidst Children's COVID-19 Vaccination: Exploring Parental Perceptions Just after Omicron Variant Announcement.Vaccines · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study describes the development of a pilot sentinel school absence syndromic surveillance system. Using data from a sample of schools in England the capability of this system to monitor the impact of disease on school absences in school-aged children is shown, using the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic period as an example. Data were obtained from an online app service used by schools and parents to report their children absent, including reasons/symptoms relating to absence. For 2019 and 2020, data were aggregated into daily counts of 'total' and 'cough' absence reports. There was a large increase in the number of absence reports in March 2020 compared to March 2019, corresponding to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Absence numbers then fell rapidly and remained low from late March 2020 until August 2020, while lockdown was in place in England. Compared to 2019, there was a large increase in the number of absence reports in September 2020 when schools re-opened in England, although the peak number of absences was smaller than in March 2020. This information can help provide context around the absence levels in schools associated with COVID-19. Also, the system has the potential for further development to monitor the impact of other conditions on school absence, e.g. gastrointestinal infections.
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