Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34903120›Full record

ArticleScandinavian journal of public health2022

An in-depth analysis of 10 epidemiological terminologies used in the context of COVID-19.

Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy, Ravinder Mamtani, Sohaila Cheema

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scandinavian journal of public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Lessons Learned from the Lessons Learned in Public Health during the First Years of COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Review
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.

Sathyanarayanan DoraiswamyInstitute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, Doha, Qatar.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4198-8065
Ravinder MamtaniInstitute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, Doha, Qatar.
Sohaila CheemaInstitute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, Doha, Qatar.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimIn this paper, we explore the contextual use of 10 epidemiological terminologies, their significance, and interpretation/misinterpretation in explaining various aspects of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS AND

resultsWe first establish the different purposes of the terms 'pandemic' and 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern.' We then discuss the confusion caused by using the 'case fatality rate' as opposed to 'infection fatality rate' during the pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding the limited usefulness of identifying someone as 'pre-symptomatic.' We highlight the ambiguity in the 'positivity rate' and the need to be able to generate data on 'excess mortality' during public health emergencies. We discuss the relevance of 'association and causation' in the context of the facemask controversy that existed at the start of the pandemic. We point out how the accepted epidemiological practice of discussing 'herd immunity' in the context of vaccines has been twisted to suit the political motive of a public health approach. Given that a high proportion of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic, we go on to show how COVID-19 has blurred the lines between 'screening/diagnosis' and 'quarantine/isolation,' while giving birth to the new terminology of 'community quarantine.'

conclusions

Indexed as

COVID-19FemaleHumansPandemicsPregnancyPublic HealthQuarantineSARS-CoV-2COVID-19epidemiologyglossary

Identifiers

PMID34903120
PMCPMC9361413

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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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.