JSM Preliminary Online Program
This is the preliminary program for the 2008 Joint Statistical Meetings in Denver, Colorado.

The views expressed here are those of the individual authors
and not necessarily those of the ASA or its board, officers, or staff.

Back to main JSM 2008 Program page

Activity Number: 242
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
Sponsor: Section on Statistics in Epidemiology
Abstract - #302222
Title: Syndromic Surveillance Monitoring of Influenza Activity in Los Angeles County
Author(s): Emily Kajita*+ and Akbar Sharip and Patricia Araki and Long Tai and Bessie Hwang
Companies: Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Address: 313 N. Figueroa St. #222, Los Angeles, CA, 90012,
Keywords: Syndromic surveillance ; Early event detection ; Time series ; Public Health ; Disease trends
Abstract:

Los Angeles County (LAC) employs an early event detection system which analyzes emergency department (ED) visits for over 50% of the population. Visits are first classified into custom syndrome categories by searching chief complaint and diagnosis fields for key words, and then analyzed for statistical aberrations. Complementary systems include nurse hotline, coroner deaths, Reddinet® hospital volume, and over-the-counter medication sales data. Results are displayed on an internal website and monitored by analysts daily. System features that will be discussed, particularly with respect to monitoring influenza activity in LAC, include: 1) threshold calculations for detecting temporal aberrations and spatio-temporal SatScanT clusters, 2) forecasting counts using unobserved component models, and 3) contributions of complementary systems.

  • The address information is for the authors that have a + after their name.
  • Authors who are presenting talks have a * after their name.

Back to the full JSM 2008 program


JSM 2008 For information, contact jsm@amstat.org or phone (888) 231-3473. If you have questions about the Continuing Education program, please contact the Education Department.
Revised September, 2008