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

Developing Syndromic Surveillance to Monitor and Respond to Adverse Health Events Related to Psychoactive Substance Use: Methods and Applications. Public Health Rep. 2017 Jul/Aug;132(1_suppl):65S-72S Authors: Nolan ML, Kunins HV, Lall R, Paone D Abstract 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...
Source: Public Health Reports - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Public Health Rep Source Type: research