Observational studyThe European journal of general practice2024
Monitoring COVID-19 in Belgian general practice: A tool for syndromic surveillance based on electronic health records.
Observational study in The European journal of general practice, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- How to ensure effective and sustainable ILI surveillance in Belgian general practices? : protocol.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Development and early implementation of automated audit and feedback monitoring instruments in Belgian primary care: lessons for scalable systems.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2026Article
- Monitoring Public Health Through a Comprehensive Primary Care Database in the Netherlands: Overview of the Nivel Syndromic Surveillance System.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCOVID-19 may initially manifest as flu-like symptoms. As such, general practitioners (GPs) will likely to play an important role in monitoring the pandemic through syndromic surveillance.
objectivesTo present a COVID-19 syndromic surveillance tool in Belgian general practices.
methodsWe performed a nationwide observational prospective study in Belgian general practices. The surveillance tool extracted the daily entries of diagnostic codes for COVID-19 and associated conditions (suspected or confirmed COVID-19, acute respiratory infection and influenza-like illness) from electronic medical records. We calculated the 7-day rolling average for these diagnoses and compared them with data from two other Belgian population-based sources (laboratory-confirmed new COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions for COVID-19), using time series analysis. We also collected data from users and stakeholders about the syndromic surveillance tool and performed a thematic analysis.
results4773 out of 11,935 practising GPs in Belgium participated in the study. The curve of contacts for suspected COVID-19 followed a similar trend compared with the curves of the official data sources: laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions but with a 10-day delay for the latter. Data were quickly available and useful for decision making, but some technical and methodological components can be improved, such as a greater standardisation between EMR software developers.
conclusionThe syndromic surveillance tool for COVID-19 in primary care provides rapidly available data useful in all phases of the COVID-19 pandemic to support data-driven decision-making. Potential enhancements were identified for a prospective surveillance tool.
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