Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39288377›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2024

From Fax to Secure File Transfer Protocol: The 25-Year Evolution of Real-Time Syndromic Surveillance in England.

Alex J Elliot, Helen E Hughes, Sally E Harcourt, Sue Smith, Paul Loveridge, Roger A Morbey, Amardeep Bains, Obaghe Edeghere, Natalia R Jones, Daniel Todkill and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
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

11 authors.

Alex J ElliotReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-6414-3065
Helen E HughesReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-3664-2983
Sally E HarcourtReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-2278-9642
Sue SmithReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-1066-5175
Paul LoveridgeReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0009-0008-2102-9044
Roger A MorbeyReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-8543-477X
Amardeep BainsReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0009-0003-4591-4674
Obaghe EdeghereReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-4275-6338
Natalia R JonesNIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-4025-2985
Daniel TodkillReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-4325-4786
Gillian E SmithReal-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-4257-0568

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The purpose of syndromic surveillance is to provide early warning of public health incidents, real-time situational awareness during incidents and emergencies, and reassurance of the lack of impact on the population, particularly during mass gatherings. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) currently coordinates a real-time syndromic surveillance service that encompasses 6 national syndromic surveillance systems reporting on daily health care usage across England. Each working day, UKHSA analyzes syndromic data from over 200,000 daily patient encounters with the National Health Service, monitoring over 140 unique syndromic indicators, risk assessing over 50 daily statistical exceedances, and taking and recommending public health action on these daily. This English syndromic surveillance service had its origins as a small exploratory pilot in a single region of England in 1999 involving a new pilot telehealth service, initially reporting only on "cold or flu" calls. This pilot showed the value of syndromic surveillance in England, providing advanced warning of the start of seasonal influenza activity over existing laboratory-based surveillance systems. Since this initial pilot, a program of real-time syndromic surveillance has evolved from the single-system, -region, -indicator pilot (using manual data transfer methods) to an all-hazard, multisystem, automated national service. The suite of systems now monitors a wide range of syndromes, from acute respiratory illness to diarrhea to cardiac conditions, and is widely used in routine public health surveillance and for monitoring seasonal respiratory disease and incidents such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we describe the 25-year evolution of the English syndromic surveillance system, focusing on the expansion and improvements in data sources and data management, the technological and digital enablers, and novel methods of data analytics and visualization.

Indexed as

COVID-19EnglandHumansPilot ProjectsPopulation Surveillancebioterrorismepidemiologymass gatheringpandemicspopulation surveillancepublic health surveillancesentinel surveillance

Identifiers

PMID39288377
PMCPMC11445629

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

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.