Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40242342›Full record

ArticleACS ES&T water2025

Variability of Clinical Metrics in Small Population Communities Drive Perceived Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance Data Quality: Ontario, Canada-Wide Study.

Nada Hegazy, K Ken Peng, Patrick M D'Aoust, Lakshmi Pisharody, Elisabeth Mercier, Nathan Thomas Ramsay, Md Pervez Kabir, Tram Bich Nguyen, Emma Tomalty, Felix Addo and 30 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in ACS ES&T water, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing 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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. 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

40 authors.

Nada HegazyDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4277-076X
K Ken PengDepartment of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Patrick M D'AoustDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Lakshmi PisharodyDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Elisabeth MercierDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Nathan Thomas RamsayDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Md Pervez KabirDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Tram Bich NguyenDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Emma TomaltyDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4956-5546
Felix AddoDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Chandler Hayying WongDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Shen WanDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Joan HuDepartment of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Charmaine DeanDepartment of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
Minqing Ivy YangBioZone, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3ES, Canada.
Hadi DhiyebiDepartment of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
Elizabeth A EdwardsBioZone, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3ES, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8071-338X
Mark R ServosDepartment of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
Gustavo YbazetaHealth Sciences North Research Institute, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 5J1, Canada.
Marc HabashSchool of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
Lawrence GoodridgeCanadian Research Institute for Food Safety, Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 1Y2, Canada.
Art F Y PoonDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada.
Eric J ArtsDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada.
Stephen BrownDepartment of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
Sarah Jane PayneDepartment of Civil Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
Andrea KirkwoodFaculty of Science, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Ontario L1G 0C5, Canada.
Denina Bobbie Dawn SimmonsFaculty of Science, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Ontario L1G 0C5, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9472-7192
Jean-Paul DesaulniersFaculty of Science, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Ontario L1G 0C5, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9596-4552
Banu OrmeciDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
Christopher KyleDepartment of Forensic Science, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario K9L 0G2, Canada.
David BulirDepartment of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada.
Trevor CharlesDepartment of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
R Michael McKayGreat Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, School of the Environment, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2723-5371
K A GilbrideDepartment of Chemistry and Biology, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada.
Claire Jocelyn OswaldDepartment of Geography and Environmental Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada.
Hui PengDepartment of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3ES, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2777-0588
Christopher DeGrootDepartment of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada.
WSI Consortium
Elizabeth RenoufDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
Robert DelatollaDepartment of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 in Canada has led to over 4.9 million cases and 59,000 deaths by May 2024. Traditional clinical surveillance metrics (hospital admissions and clinical laboratory-positive cases) were complemented with wastewater and environmental monitoring (WEM) to monitor SARS-CoV-2 incidence. However, challenges in public health integration of WEM persist due to perceived limitations of WEM data quality, potentially driving inconsistent correlations variability and lead times. This study investigates how factors like population size, WEM measurement magnitude, site isolation status, hospital admissions, and clinical laboratory-positive cases affect WEM data correlations and variability in Ontario. The analysis uncovers a direct relationship between clinical surveillance data and the population size of the surveyed sewersheds, while WEM measurement magnitude was not directly impacted by population size. Higher variability in clinical surveillance data was observed in smaller sewersheds, likely reducing correlation strength for inferring COVID-19 incidence. Population size significantly influenced correlation quality, with thresholds identified at ∼66,000 inhabitants for strong WEM-hospital admissions correlations and ∼68,000 inhabitants for WEM-laboratory-positive cases during waned vaccination periods in Ontario (the Omicron BA.1 wave). During significant vaccination immunization (the Omicron BA.2 wave), these thresholds increased to ∼187,000 and 238,000, respectively. These findings highlight the benefit of WEM for strategic public health monitoring and interventions, especially in smaller communities. This study provides insights for enhancing public health decision making and disease monitoring through WEM, applicable to COVID-19 and potentially other diseases.

Identifiers

PMID40242342
PMCPMC11998010

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.