Tenth Biennial CDC/ATSDR Symposium on Statistical Methods
DIMACS Working Group on Adverse Event/Disease Reporting, Surveillance, and Analysis I
DIMACS Working Group on Adverse Event/Disease Reporting, Surveillance, and Analysis II
DIMACS Subgroup on Adverse Event/Disease Reporting, Surveillance, and Analysis
A variety of analytic approaches have arisen and are in use for performing Bioterrorism (BT) surveillance using social and other public health indicators from various types of data (e.g., pre-diagnostic/chief complaint ambulatory care encounters, nurse call line data, over-the-counter sales, absenteeism, Emergency Department discharge summaries, prescription pharmaceutical sales, 911-emergency calls; etc.). The value of data anomaly investigation and signal detection as technologies in surveillance can be enhanced by more formalized application of data pre-processing methods and applied probabilistic decision science concepts and principles. A full characterization of the usefulness as well corresponding development of analytic methods for exploiting opportunistic data are rich areas for research; especially in the context of information system integration. The specific focus of this session is on the analytic surveillance component where multiple sources of data are utilized to assess the health-related temporal and geographic status of human health risk.
The purpose of the session is to provide (1) an overview of the problem, (2) a view of current practices in operation (2 presentations), (3) evolving application areas of promise (1 presentation) and (4) to elicit feedback and discussion. Ideas and conceptual threads from the discussion will be explored and developed into a one-to-five year research agenda for addressing this area.