Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, Gaithersburg, MD, United States.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020 Jul 31;6(3):e22331. doi: 10.2196/22331.
Epidemiologic and syndromic surveillance metrics traditionally used by public health departments can be enhanced to better predict hospitalization for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In Montgomery County, Maryland, measurements of oxygen saturation (SpO) by pulse oximetry obtained by the emergency medical service (EMS) were added to these traditional metrics to enhance the public health picture for decision makers. During a 78-day period, the rolling 7-day average of the percentage of EMS patients with SpO <94% had a stronger correlation with next-day hospital bed occupancy (Spearman ρ=0.58, 95% CI 0.40-0.71) than either the rolling 7-day average of the percentage of positive tests (ρ=0.55, 95% CI: 0.37-0.69) or the rolling 7-day average of the percentage of emergency department visits for COVID-19-like illness (ρ=0.49, 95% CI: 0.30-0.64). Health departments should consider adding EMS data to augment COVID-19 surveillance and thus improve resource allocation.
传统上，公共卫生部门使用的流行病学和症状监测指标可以进行改进，以更好地预测冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的住院情况。在马里兰州蒙哥马利县，通过急诊医疗服务（EMS）获得的脉搏血氧饱和度（SpO）测量值被添加到这些传统指标中，以增强决策者的公共卫生状况。在 78 天的时间里，EMS 患者 SpO <94%的滚动 7 天平均百分比与次日医院床位占用率的相关性更强（Spearman ρ=0.58，95%CI 0.40-0.71），而不是阳性检测的滚动 7 天平均百分比（ρ=0.55，95%CI：0.37-0.69）或 COVID-19 样疾病的急诊就诊滚动 7 天平均百分比（ρ=0.49，95%CI：0.30-0.64）。卫生部门应考虑增加 EMS 数据以增强 COVID-19 监测，从而改善资源分配。
