ArticleJMIR public health and surveillance2022
Digitalizing and Upgrading Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Surveillance in Malta: System Development.
Article in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Systematic Review of the Markers of Severity in Acute Respiratory Infections to Inform Primary Care Surveillance.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2025Pooled it
- Causes and Contributing Factors of In-Hospital and Post-Discharge Mortality Among Patients With Severe Acute Respiratory Infection in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Surveillance of severe acute respiratory infections associated with SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus and RSV using ICD-10 codes: a case definition accuracy study across five European countries, 2021 to 2023.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Proposed approaches for public health surveillance: A literature review for the Canadian National HIV Surveillance Program.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2025Article
- Evaluation of European severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance, 27 European countries, 2022/23.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Registry-Based Surveillance of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections in Norway During 2021-2024.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2025Article
- Federated systems for automated infection surveillance: a perspective.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Review
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23 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundIn late 2020, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and Epiconcept started implementing a surveillance system for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) across Europe.
objectiveWe sought to describe the process of digitizing and upgrading SARI surveillance in Malta, an island country with a centralized health system, during the COVID-19 pandemic from February to November 2021. We described the characteristics of people included in the surveillance system and compared different SARI case definitions, including their advantages and disadvantages. This study also discusses the process, output, and future for SARI and other public health surveillance opportunities.
methodsMalta has one main public hospital where, on admission, patient data are entered into electronic records as free text. Symptoms and comorbidities are manually extracted from these records, whereas other data are collected from registers. Collected data are formatted to produce weekly and monthly reports to inform public health actions. From October 2020 to February 2021, we established an analogue incidence-based system for SARI surveillance. From February 2021 onward, we mapped key stakeholders and digitized most surveillance processes.
resultsBy November 30, 2021, 903 SARI cases were reported, with 380 (42.1%) positive for SARS-CoV-2. Of all SARI hospitalizations, 69 (7.6%) were admitted to the intensive care unit, 769 (85.2%) were discharged, 27 (3%) are still being treated, and 107 (11.8%) died. Among the 107 patients who died, 96 (89.7%) had more than one underlying condition, the most common of which were hypertension (n=57, 53.3%) and chronic heart disease (n=49, 45.8%).
conclusionsThe implementation of enhanced SARI surveillance in Malta was completed by the end of May 2021, allowing the monitoring of SARI incidence and patient characteristics. A future shift to register-based surveillance should improve SARI detection through automated processes.
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