BioSense Correlate

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) BioSense Program integrates existing local and state health department emergency department (ED)-based surveillance systems' information to provide multi-jurisdiction and national information on community health status. ED-based surveillance often utilizes health information captured prior to final diagnosis of the patient's health condition to support near real-time monitoring of population health. This type of surveillance is often referred to as syndromic surveillance. Syndromic surveillance data are analyzed rapidly by public health departments to detect and characterize unusual activity for further public health investigation and intervention. Typically, these pre-diagnostic health data are analyzed and interpreted by public health practitioners who share that information with community partners in disease prevention and control.

The BioSense Program worked with Google Correlate to find ways to explore and visualize trends in BioSense ED-based chief complaint or initial diagnosis trends.  Here you can view a few examples correlating BioSense ED-based initial diagnosis trends against normalized Google search patterns:

• Upper respiratory tract infection (ICD9 465.9)
• External ear infection (ICD9 380.10)
• Diarrhea (ICD9 787.91)
• Nosebleed (ICD9 784.7)
• Chronic bronchitis exacerbation (ICD9 491.21)

Note: The BioSense Program is undergoing a redesign to expand its geographic and population coverage and to improve the public health community's ability to effectively investigate and respond to emerging public health threats. The redesign effort is guided by input from our local, state, and federal partners (additional information available here).

Please contact us at info@biosen.se for questions related to the BioSense Program.