Methods
The documents below provide guidance on sound surveillance methods that can foster consistency in practice and can result in data that are more accurate and comparable. They are arranged by the general categories for conducting surveillance, evaluating programs or surveillance systems, and standardizing data.
Click on the drop-down arrows ( > ) to expand the list of documents for the topic areas under the following methods:
Conducting Surveillance
How to conduct surveillance for topics such as data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination, and linking with public health action.
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Design and Operation of the National Asthma Survey
Details procedural information on a unique source of asthma data, the National Asthma Survey (NAS). Includes description of methods including questionnaire design and implementation, data collection, and quality control of data.
- Community Health Assessment aNd Group Evaluation (CHANGE): Action Guide and Tool DownloadsStep-by-step instructions to follow for successfully completing the CHANGE tool. CHANGE can be used to gain a picture of the policy, systems, and environmental change strategies currently in place throughout the community; develop a community action plan for improving policies, systems, and the environment to support healthy lifestyles; and assist with prioritizing community needs and allocating available resources.
- Public Health Surveillance Toolkit: A guide for busy task managers [The World Bank]
Fundamental concepts for surveillance in public health. Helps project teams and task managers critically assess the public health surveillance system (or systems) currently operating in a given country, and have some idea of ways to improve these systems.
- Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)
Provides current, in-depth information on bioterrorism, influenza, and new hot topics; original news stories; and comprehensive and current lists of guidelines and articles in the literature with Web links. Offers a balance of public health, medical, and public policy information. - Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER)
The Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) is an epidemiologic technique designed to provide quickly and at low-cost household based information about a community. - Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) Toolkit – Third Edition
General guideline for collecting information by using a standardized assessment of housing units in the area and the population affected by a disaster. - Medical Examiners, Coroners, and Biologic Terrorism: A Guidebook for Surveillance and Case Management
Helps public health officials understand the role of medical examiners and coroners (ME/Cs) in biologic terrorism surveillance and response efforts. Provides ME/Cs with the detailed information required to build capacity for biologic terrorism preparedness in a public health context. - National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS): Guidance Document for NORS Users reporting foodborne, person-to-person, and animal contact
Used as a reference for public health professionals on how to fill up the CDC 52.12 form to report data to NORS. Guidance in this document is organized to correspond to the tabs on the updated form: shared General part, a water-specific Water-General part, and parts for the four types of water exposure.
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Measuring Healthy Days Population Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL)
Describes the origins, validity, and value of a set of survey measures developed by CDC and its partners for use in tracking population health status and HRQOL in states and communities. Showcases answers to questions people commonly ask about HRQOL and its measurement.
- A Guide to the Implementation of the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) in State Public Health Agencies
Targets program managers and surveillance staff in state health agencies who are involved in the implementation of NEDSS. Section I describes NEDSS and the NEDSS architecture. Section II details NEDSS implementation options for state programs. Some guidance is provided on how to choose the best solution for each state and how many systems should be included in NEDSS. Section III includes a brief description of the resources needed at the state level for the implementation of NEDSS. In addition, connectivity, security, and other important issues (such as confidentiality and legal authority to collect and access surveillance information) are discussed. - Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)
Provides current, in-depth information on bioterrorism, influenza, and new hot topics; original news stories; and comprehensive and current lists of guidelines and articles in the literature with Web links. Offers a balance of public health, medical, and public policy information. - Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) Protocol
Details activities and responsibilities of the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) participants, including sentinel sites, regional laboratories, and CDC. Discusses general project issues such as quality assurance, human subjects, publications, and use of GISP isolates and data. - Guidelines for Arbovirus Surveillance in the United States
Discusses standardization of surveillance for mosquito-borne viral encephalitis. Discusses the philosophy of surveillance and the range of available tools; recommends surveillance methods for each of the common encephalitides found in the U.S.; reviews briefly the biology and behavior of the vectors and vertebrate hosts of the major encephalitides. - Guidelines for Conducting HIV Sentinel Serosurveys among Pregnant Women and Other Groups
Helps national AIDS program managers and epidemiologists responsible for monitoring trends in HIV prevalence in resource-constrained countries. Provides information on how to: conduct HIV serosurveys among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics, collect and/or use serosurveillance data, and use HIV seroprevalence data among patients with tuberculosis (TB) and hospital inpatients. - Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response [Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR)]
Targets local, state and federal agencies and provides model practices used in foodborne disease outbreaks, including planning, detection, investigation, control and prevention. - Guidelines for Viral Hepatitis Surveillance and Case Management
Provides guidance to clinicians, state and local health departments, and other health agencies regarding case ascertainment, reporting, investigation, and follow-up of persons with acute viral hepatitis. - In the Absence of SARS-CoV Transmission Worldwide: Guidance for Surveillance, Clinical and Laboratory Evaluation, and Reporting
Provides guidance for surveillance, clinical and laboratory evaluation, and reporting in the setting of no known person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV worldwide. Recommendations are derived from Public Health Guidance for Community-Level Preparedness and Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). - Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
Includes a chapter for each vaccine-preventable diseases, describing the importance of rapid case identification; the importance of surveillance; disease reduction goals; case definitions (including clinical description and case classifications); epidemiologically important data to be collected during case investigation; activities for enhancing surveillance; activities for case investigation; and activities for outbreak control. - Public Health Guidance for Community-Level Preparedness and Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Directed to state and local health departments, healthcare facilities, and healthcare personnel. Addresses both the rationale and the strategies for SARS preparedness and response and provides a foundation for the development of more detailed operational plans and procedures for responding to SARS at the local level. Suggested activities include those needed to prepare for an introduction of SARS-CoV, to quickly detect possible SARS cases and clusters, and to prevent and contain SARS-CoV transmission. - Recommendations for Public Health Surveillance of Syphilis in the United States;
Includes overview of syphilis surveillance and recommendations for case reporting, prevalence monitoring, congenital syphilis, active surveillance and outbreak detection, behavioral and social surveillance, and data quality, analysis and dissemination. Aims to make collection and reporting of syphilis surveillance data more uniform so that data from a variety sources are comparable. - Revised U.S. Surveillance Case Definition for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Update on SARS Cases— United States and Worldwide, December 2003
Modifies the clinical, epidemiologic, laboratory, and case-exclusion criteria in the U.S. surveillance case definition used during the 2003 SARS epidemic. - Surveillance Guidelines for Smallpox Vaccine (vaccinia) Adverse Reactions
Provides uniform criteria used for the surveillance case definition and classification for these previously recognized adverse reactions used during the Department of Health and Human Services Smallpox Preparedness and Response Program.
- Injury Surveillance Guidelines [WHO/CDC]
Practical advice on how to develop information systems for the collection of systematic data on injuries (particularly in resource-poor settings). Describes how to set up systems for collecting, coding, and processing data even if there is no electronic equipment, few staff, and/or inexperienced staff. - Injury Surveillance Training Manual (Instructor Guide and Participant Guide)
Steps needed to establish and maintain an injury surveillance system; provides information on designing and monitoring prevention activities; and offers guidance for making informed decisions about injury prevention. Designed primarily for professionals who develop or operate surveillance systems and conduct prevention activities in less-resourced countries. - National Violent Death Reporting System Coding Manual (NVDRS)
Used as a reference by state health departments for defining cases, entering data, and checking data once it is entered. Contains information about individual variables and the way the data are structured. Manual is intended to be used in conjunction with the materials provided at the coding training and the NVDRS Software Manual. It should be kept at hand when doing data entry or checking, both in the office and in the field. - Recommended Actions to Improve External-Cause-of-Injury Coding in State-Based Hospital Discharge and Emergency Department Data Systems
Summarizes potential collaborative action steps for CDC and its partners to improve E-coding in state morbidity data systems, with implications for improving federal morbidity data systems.
- Guidelines for Conducting Birth Defects Surveillance
Consists of a series of chapters covering the fundamental aspects of developing, planning, implementing, and conducting surveillance for birth defects and using the resulting data. Although the focus is on birth defects, most of the principles described are relevant and applicable to surveillance for any health outcome. - Logic Models for Planning and Evaluation: A Resource Guide for the CDC State Birth Defects Surveillance Program Cooperative Agreement
Introduces the birth defects surveillance conceptual logic model and the overarching performance indicators used to evaluate the programs (section 1). Presents a basic guide to logic models as iterative tools for program planning and evaluation, and is a launching point to help grantees develop a logic model that communicates the relationship between program inputs, activities, outputs, and intended outcomes (section 2). - Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Protocol 2009 Version
Provides standardized protocol for ensuring comparability of data when data are collected in multiple sites and aggregation of data for PRAMS. Includes 12 chapters on data collection, management, analysis, dissemination; human subjects issues; and program evaluation. - Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS): Methodology
Describes the methodology of PRAMS, examines recent response rates, determines characteristics associated with response, and tracks response patterns over time. - Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Assess and Direct Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention: Guidance for State and Local Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs
Helps new lead epidemiologists quickly learn how to use geographic information systems (GIS) mapping technology to assess and direct childhood lead poisoning elimination efforts. Examples are provided of how GIS mapping technology can use blood lead screening, tax assessor (property), and U.S. census data to develop and improve preventive interventions, especially primary prevention (before children are poisoned).
Evaluating Surveillance Systems
How to carry out systematic evaluation of surveillance systems to ensure that problems of public health importance are being monitored efficiently and effectively.
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Framework for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems for Early Detection of Outbreaks
Supplements previous guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. Improves decision-making regarding the implementation of surveillance for outbreak detection. Enhances the exchange of information regarding methods to improve early detection of outbreak by using standardized evaluation methodology, including description of system design and operation.
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Guidelines for Evaluating Surveillance Systems (Original 1998 Report)
Describes the evaluation of epidemiologic surveillance systems. Its purpose is to promote the best use of public health resources through the development of effective and efficient surveillance systems. It can serve as a guide for persons conducting their first evaluation and as a reference for those who are already familiar with the evaluation process.
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Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems
Provides updated guidelines for evaluating surveillance systems based on CDC’s Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health.
Standardizing Data
How to improve quality of data through standardization of case definitions and how to develop and collect data for indicators.
- Bioterrorism Case Definitions
List of bioterrorism case definitions available on CDC’s Emergency Preparedness and Response website. - Case Definitions for Chemical Poisoning
Presents case definitions to facilitate uniform reporting of illness resulting from a chemical (i.e., toxin and toxicant) release. - Case Definitions for Public Health Surveillance (Original MMWR 1990 Report)
The 1990 report, for the first time, provided uniform criteria for reporting cases. The 1990 report, containing the original case definitions, is available for download as a .pdf file. Download RR3913 now (size approximately 310,000 bytes). - Revised U.S. Surveillance Case Definition for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Update on SARS Cases — United States and Worldwide, December 2003
Need-based, flexible framework to assist the states in meeting Healthy People 2010 objectives and to provide a foundation for developing environmental public health surveillance.
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Environmental Public Health Indicators
Need-based, flexible framework to assist the states in meeting Healthy People 2010 objectives and to provide a foundation for developing environmental public health surveillance.
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Indicators for Chronic Disease Surveillance
Latest revisions to the set of 92 chronic disease indicators; includes 63 indicators that were unchanged from the first edition, six that have been revised, and 23 that are new.
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Indicators for Occupational Health Surveillance
Introduction to occupational health indicators and CSTE’s approach to developing this new occupational health surveillance tool, which helps collect and generate important, basic information concerning the occupational health status of the state population and identify areas in which to focus prevention efforts.
- International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM)
This 2011 update is being published by the United States Government in recognition of its responsibility to promulgate this classification throughout the United States for morbidity coding. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10), published by the World Health Organization (WHO), is the foundation of ICD-10-CM. ICD-10 continues to be the classification used in cause-of-death coding in the United States.
Last Reviewed: October 27, 2022