Health Protection Agency West Midlands Regional Epidemiology Unit, Birmingham, UK.
Epidemiol Infect. 2012 Jul;140(7):1328-36. doi: 10.1017/S0950268811002093. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
Certain influenza outbreaks, including the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic, can predominantly affect school-age children. Therefore the use of school absenteeism data has been considered as a potential tool for providing early warning of increasing influenza activity in the community. This study retrospectively evaluates the usefulness of these data by comparing them with existing syndromic surveillance systems and laboratory data. Weekly mean percentages of absenteeism in 373 state schools (children aged 4-18 years) in Birmingham, UK, from September 2006 to September 2009, were compared with established syndromic surveillance systems including a telephone health helpline, a general practitioner sentinel network and laboratory data for influenza. Correlation coefficients were used to examine the relationship between each syndromic system. In June 2009, school absenteeism generally peaked concomitantly with the existing influenza surveillance systems in England. Weekly school absenteeism surveillance would not have detected pandemic influenza A(H1N1) earlier but daily absenteeism data and the development of baselines could improve the timeliness of the system.
某些流感疫情，包括 2009 年甲型 H1N1 流感大流行，主要影响学龄儿童。因此，利用学生缺课数据被认为是为社区流感活动增加提供早期预警的潜在工具。本研究通过将这些数据与现有的症状监测系统和实验室数据进行比较，回顾性评估了这些数据的有用性。2006 年 9 月至 2009 年 9 月，英国伯明翰的 373 所州立学校（4-18 岁儿童）每周平均缺课率与现有的症状监测系统进行了比较，包括一个电话健康热线、一个全科医生监测网络和流感实验室数据。相关系数用于检查每个症状监测系统之间的关系。2009 年 6 月，学校缺课率通常与英国现有的流感监测系统同时达到高峰。每周的学校缺课率监测不会更早地发现大流行的甲型 H1N1 流感，但每天的缺课率数据和基线的制定可以提高系统的及时性。
