Assessment of a code-based method compared with a questionnaire-based method for Influenza-Like Illness surveillance data collection in Belgian General Practices: Protocol

Mélanie Nahimana, Floriane Rouvez, Sherihane Bensemmane, Sarah Moreels, Robrecht De Schreye, Nathalie Bossuyt

Keywords: Influenza, electronic health records, surveillance, general practitioners

Background:

The need to provide real-time estimates of influenza activity, coupled with the inherent limitations of sentinel general practitioners(SGP) surveillance systems, has prompted researchers worldwide to explore alternative data sources such as electronic medical records. However, there is limited literature comparing code-based and questionnaire-based primary care surveillance systems and evaluation of all the systems' characteristics is rare.
In Belgium, the COVID-19 barometer in general practices, a semi-automated tool, provided rapidly available COVID-19 data during the pandemic. This tool also captures daily data on Influenza-like Illness(ILI). Meanwhile, we observe that the current questionnaire-based ILI surveillance of the SGP network is hampered in its expansion.

Research questions:

What are the gains and losses of replacing the questionnaire-based method with the code-based method for ILI surveillance data collection in Belgian general practices?

Method:

The CDC guidelines for evaluating surveillance systems will be used as a framework to analyse retrospectively SGP and COVID-19 Barometer data collection methods.
Firstly, we will delineate the requirements for the ILI surveillance system in Belgium.
Subsequently, in order to assess both data collection methods in addressing the ILI surveillance system needs, we will conduct an evaluation based on nine attributes: ILI cases, data quality, timeliness, sensitivity, representativeness, acceptability, stability, simplicity and flexibility. For each attribute, we will establish quantitative and qualitative measures to ensure a robust and in-depth evaluation.
Additionally, the overarching research question will be divided into specific research questions corresponding to each attribute.
Eventually, we will define thresholds for each system characteristic in alignment with the predetermined requirements of the surveillance system.

Results:

The results obtained will highlight the elements to which attention needs to be paid concerning the replacement of the SGP data collection method.

Conclusions:

This assessment could be a key step towards a better understanding of ILI surveillance data collection methods and, consequently, towards improved data-based decision-making.

Points for discussion:

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