scholarly journals Syndromic Surveillance in Public Health Practice, New York City

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 858-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Heffernan ◽  
Farzad Mostashari ◽  
Debjani Das ◽  
Adam Karpati ◽  
Martin Kulldorff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Health Practice

scholarly journals Developing Syndromic Surveillance to Monitor and Respond to Adverse Health Events Related to Psychoactive Substance Use: Methods and Applications

2017 ◽  
Vol 132 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 65S-72S ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Nolan ◽  
Hillary V. Kunins ◽  
Ramona Lall ◽  
Denise Paone
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Psychoactive Drug ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Chief Complaints ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Ed Visits

Introduction: Recent increases in drug overdose deaths, both in New York City and nationally, highlight the need for timely data on psychoactive drug-related morbidity. We developed drug syndrome definitions for syndromic surveillance to monitor drug-related emergency department (ED) visits in real time. Materials and Methods: We used 2012 archived syndromic surveillance data from New York City hospitals to develop definitions for psychoactive drug-related syndromes. The dataset contained ED visit-level information that included patients’ chief complaints, dates of visits, ZIP codes of residence, discharge diagnoses, and dispositions. After manually reviewing chief complaints, we developed a classification scheme comprising 3 categories (overdose, drug mention, and drug abuse/misuse), which we used to define 25 psychoactive drug syndromes. From July 2013 through December 2015, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene performed daily syndromic surveillance of psychoactive drug-related ED visits using the 25 syndrome definitions. Results: Syndromic surveillance triggered 4 public health investigations, supported 8 other public health investigations that had been triggered by other mechanisms, and resulted in the identification of 5 psychoactive drug-related outbreaks. Syndromic surveillance also identified a substantial increase in synthetic cannabinoid-related visits (from an average of 3 per week in January 2014 to >300 per week in July 2015) and an increase in heroin overdose visits (from 80 to 171 in the first 3 quarters of 2012 and 2014, respectively) in a single neighborhood. Practice Implications: Syndromic surveillance using these novel definitions enabled monitoring of trends in psychoactive drug-related morbidity, initiation and support of public health investigations, and targeting of interventions. Health departments can refine these definitions for their jurisdictions using the described methods and integrate them into existing syndromic surveillance systems.

scholarly journals Advancing the Use of Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance Data, New York City, 2012-2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 132 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 23S-30S ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Lall ◽  
Jasmine Abdelnabi ◽  
Stephanie Ngai ◽  
Hilary B. Parton ◽  
Kelly Saunders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Meningococcal Disease ◽  
York City ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Severe Weather ◽  
Use Cases ◽  
Building Collapse ◽  
Ed Visits

Introduction: The use of syndromic surveillance has expanded from its initial purpose of bioterrorism detection. We present 6 use cases from New York City that demonstrate the value of syndromic surveillance for public health response and decision making across a broad range of health outcomes: synthetic cannabinoid drug use, heat-related illness, suspected meningococcal disease, medical needs after severe weather, asthma exacerbation after a building collapse, and Ebola-like illness in travelers returning from West Africa. Materials and Methods: The New York City syndromic surveillance system receives data on patient visits from all emergency departments (EDs) in the city. The data are used to assign syndrome categories based on the chief complaint and discharge diagnosis, and analytic methods are used to monitor geographic and temporal trends and detect clusters. Results: For all 6 use cases, syndromic surveillance using ED data provided actionable information. Syndromic surveillance helped detect a rise in synthetic cannabinoid-related ED visits, prompting a public health investigation and action. Surveillance of heat-related illness indicated increasing health effects of severe weather and led to more urgent public health messaging. Surveillance of meningitis-related ED visits helped identify unreported cases of culture-negative meningococcal disease. Syndromic surveillance also proved useful for assessing a surge of methadone-related ED visits after Superstorm Sandy, provided reassurance of no localized increases in asthma after a building collapse, and augmented traditional disease reporting during the West African Ebola outbreak. Practice Implications: Sharing syndromic surveillance use cases can foster new ideas and build capacity for public health preparedness and response.

scholarly journals Surveillance of a Synthetic Cannabinoid Overdose Outbreak using Syndromic & EMS Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J Rock ◽  
Michael D Singleton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Emergency Medical Services ◽  
York City ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Fayette County ◽  
Over Time

Objective: The aim of this project was to investigate anecdotal reports of an increase in synthetic cannabinoid (SynCan) overdoses in Lexington-Fayette County area of Kentucky, using rapid surveillance systems including emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance (SyS) and emergency medical services (EMS) data.Introduction: In mid-2017, the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (a bonafide agent of Kentucky Department for Public Health-KDPH) was alerted by members of KDPH to anecdotal evidence of a possible increase of SynCan (primarily “Serenity”) overdoses. The situation presented an opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of syndromic surveillance and emergency medical services (EMS) data systems to provide rapid situational awareness about SynCan overdoses.Methods: SynCan cases were identified based on EMS emergency runs with narratives including mentions of ‘serenity|K2|spice’ and occurred in the Lexington-Fayette County. In ED SyS, SynCan cases were identified for Lexington-Fayette County area ED visits with a chief complaints of ‘serenity|K2|spice’ or diagnosis code of T40.7X[1-4]A. The ICD code was included after analysis of diagnosis codes in positive cases from a chief complaint only query revealed T40.7X[1-4]A as a primary code assigned in these cases. Trends for Lexington-Fayette County area were compared to state-wide total to determine if the trend is unique or related to system-wide pattern changes. EMS and ED SyS trend results were compared for internal validity. EMS incident addresses were geocoded to point-level to enable more granular analysis of geospatial patterns over time for identification of hotspots/clustering.Results: ED SyS and EMS results demonstrated a clear temporal increase in SynCan overdoses beginning around March of 2017[Fig 1]. Further analysis indicated that this increase was most dramatically centered in the Lexington-Fayette County area [Fig 2]. The vast majority of those overdosing were males (SyS: 88.1%) with average age 37 compared to 11.9% and 36.0 for females, respectively. These demographics are similar to those reported by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for a K2 outbreak in New York City in 20141. Kernel density mapping demonstrated a strong clustering in a specific area of downtown Lexington. Additionally, analysis of EMS data revealed that a large portion of these overdoses were being admitted for observational care and thus not being captured in SyS data (based on the primary hospital’s submission types).From a practical standpoint, the rapid surveillance results only took 1-2 days to complete and highlight the utility of these data systems in preparing rapid data products. The results of the analysis were shared with local and state health department authorities, including the local Emergency Medical Advisory Board. The geospatial analysis provided local authorities with information to enable precise targeting of public health and public safety messaging.Conclusions: By analyzing data from these systems, we were able to quickly identify the geographic areas and demographic groups that were most affected, and to describe trends in SynCan overdoses over time. As a result, we were able to provide highly-detailed data to local public health and public safety authorities to inform their response.

scholarly journals Alcohol Consumption by Older New York City Residents: The Need for New Policies to Address Misuse

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-454
Author(s):  
Daniel Weisz ◽  
Michael Kelley Gusmano
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
York City ◽  
Alcohol Misuse ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
New Public Health

Abstract Aims The aim of this study is to assess risk factors for alcohol misuse among older New York City residents and examine the effect of local public health efforts to address alcohol misuse. Methods The Community Health Survey, a cross-sectional telephone survey of 8500 randomly selected adult New Yorkers, records the frequency of alcohol use. We examine these results among 65 and older subjects by sociodemographic status using logistic regression modeling and compare trends in smoking and alcohol consumption between 2002 and 2016. Results Those with unhealthy drinking habits, combining binge drinking and excessive consumption, constituted 5.7% of 65 plus population and were more likely to be White, US born, healthy, better educated and wealthier. The percentage of older smokers in New York City has decreased while unhealthy drinking is nearly flat since 2002. Conclusions Our findings reinforce the importance of screening geriatric populations for alcohol use disorders and support the development of new public health efforts to address alcohol misuse if the city is to achieve results similar to those obtained in decreasing tobacco consumption.

A History of Public Health in New York City, 1866-1966

1976 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Gert H. Brieger ◽  
John Duffy ◽  
Robert Stevens ◽  
Rosemary Stevens ◽  
Lloyd C. Taylor. Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
History Of Public Health ◽  
History Of
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document