Kheifetz Yuri, Kirsten Holger, Schuppert Andreas, Scholz Markus
Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Leipzig, Haertelstrasse 16-18, 04107 Leipzig, Germany.
Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (ScaDS.AI) Dresden/Leipzig, University of Leipzig, Humboldtstraße 25, 04105 Leipzig, Germany.
Viruses. 2025 Jul 14;17(7):981. doi: 10.3390/v17070981.
: Epidemiological modeling is a vital tool for managing pandemics, including SARS-CoV-2. Advances in the understanding of epidemiological dynamics and access to new data sources necessitate ongoing adjustments to modeling techniques. In this study, we present a significantly expanded and updated version of our previous SARS-CoV-2 model formulated as input-output non-linear dynamical systems (IO-NLDS). : This updated framework incorporates age-dependent contact patterns, immune waning, and new data sources, including seropositivity studies, hospital dynamics, variant trends, the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions, and the dynamics of vaccination campaigns. : We analyze the dynamics of various datasets spanning the entire pandemic in Germany and its 16 federal states using this model. This analysis enables us to explore the regional heterogeneity of model parameters across Germany for the first time. We enhance our estimation methodology by introducing constraints on parameter variation among federal states to achieve this. This enables us to reliably estimate thousands of parameters based on hundreds of thousands of data points. : Our approach is adaptable to other epidemic scenarios and even different domains, contributing to broader pandemic preparedness efforts.
流行病学建模是管理包括新冠病毒(SARS-CoV-2)在内的大流行病的重要工具。对流行病动力学理解的进展以及新数据源的获取使得建模技术需要不断调整。在本研究中,我们展示了我们之前构建为输入-输出非线性动力系统(IO-NLDS)的新冠病毒模型的显著扩展和更新版本。这个更新的框架纳入了年龄依赖性接触模式、免疫衰退以及新的数据源,包括血清阳性研究、医院动态、变种趋势、非药物干预的影响以及疫苗接种活动的动态。我们使用这个模型分析了德国及其16个联邦州在整个大流行期间的各种数据集的动态。该分析使我们首次能够探索德国模型参数的区域异质性。为此,我们通过对联邦州之间的参数变化引入约束来改进我们的估计方法。这使我们能够基于数十万数据点可靠地估计数千个参数。我们的方法适用于其他流行情况甚至不同领域,有助于更广泛的大流行防范工作。