Dataset Information

Epidemic features affecting the performance of outbreak detection algorithms.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Outbreak detection algorithms play an important role in effective automated surveillance. Although many algorithms have been designed to improve the performance of outbreak detection, few published studies have examined how epidemic features of infectious disease impact on the detection performance of algorithms. This study compared the performance of three outbreak detection algorithms stratified by epidemic features of infectious disease and examined the relationship between epidemic features and performance of outbreak detection algorithms.

Methods

Exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA), cumulative sum (CUSUM) and moving percentile method (MPM) algorithms were applied. We inserted simulated outbreaks into notifiable infectious disease data in China Infectious Disease Automated-alert and Response System (CIDARS), and compared the performance of the three algorithms with optimized parameters at a fixed false alarm rate of 5% classified by epidemic features of infectious disease. Multiple linear regression was adopted to analyse the relationship of the algorithms' sensitivity and timeliness with the epidemic features of infectious diseases.

Results

The MPM had better detection performance than EWMA and CUSUM through all simulated outbreaks, with or without stratification by epidemic features (incubation period, baseline counts and outbreak magnitude). The epidemic features were associated with both sensitivity and timeliness. Compared with long incubation, short incubation had lower probability (?*?=?-0.13, P?ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that the MPM is a prior algorithm for outbreak detection and differences of epidemic features in detection performance should be considered in automatic surveillance practice.

SUBMITTER: Kuang J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3489582 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Epidemic features affecting the performance of outbreak detection algorithms.

Kuang Jie J Yang Wei Zhong WZ Zhou Ding Lun DL Li Zhong Jie ZJ Lan Ya Jia YJ

BMC public health 20120608

<h4>Background</h4>Outbreak detection algorithms play an important role in effective automated surveillance. Although many algorithms have been designed to improve the performance of outbreak detection, few published studies have examined how epidemic features of infectious disease impact on the detection performance of algorithms. This study compared the performance of three outbreak detection algorithms stratified by epidemic features of infectious disease and examined the relationship between ...[more]

PMID: 22682110

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Project description:BackgroundThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has spread rapidly across the world, creating an urgent need for predictive models that can help healthcare providers prepare and respond to outbreaks more quickly and effectively, and ultimately improve patient care. Early detection and warning systems are crucial for preventing and controlling epidemic spread.ObjectiveIn this study, we aimed to propose a machine learning-based method to predict the transmission trend of COVID-19 and a new approach to detect the start time of new outbreaks by analyzing epidemiological data.MethodsWe developed a risk index to measure the change in the transmission trend. We applied machine learning (ML) techniques to predict COVID-19 transmission trends, categorized into three labels: decrease (L0), maintain (L1), and increase (L2). We used Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and XGBoost (XGB) as ML models. We employed grid search methods to determine the optimal hyperparameters for these three models. We proposed a new method to detect the start time of new outbreaks based on label 2, which was sustained for at least 14 days (i.e., the duration of maintenance). We compared the performance of different ML models to identify the most accurate approach for outbreak detection. We conducted sensitivity analysis for the duration of maintenance between 7 days and 28 days.ResultsML methods demonstrated high accuracy (over 94%) in estimating the classification of the transmission trends. Our proposed method successfully predicted the start time of new outbreaks, enabling us to detect a total of seven estimated outbreaks, while there were five reported outbreaks between March 2020 and October 2022 in Korea. It means that our method could detect minor outbreaks. Among the ML models, the RF and XGB classifiers exhibited the highest accuracy in outbreak detection.ConclusionThe study highlights the strength of our method in accurately predicting the timing of an outbreak using an interpretable and explainable approach. It could provide a standard for predicting the start time of new outbreaks and detecting future transmission trends. This method can contribute to the development of targeted prevention and control measures and enhance resource management during the pandemic.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Detection of outbreaks is an important part of disease surveillance. Although many algorithms have been designed for detecting outbreaks, few have been specifically assessed against diseases that have distinct seasonal incidence patterns, such as those caused by vector-borne pathogens. METHODS: We applied five previously reported outbreak detection algorithms to Ross River virus (RRV) disease data (1991-2007) for the four local government areas (LGAs) of Brisbane, Emerald, Redland and Townsville in Queensland, Australia. The methods used were the Early Aberration Reporting System (EARS) C1, C2 and C3 methods, negative binomial cusum (NBC), historical limits method (HLM), Poisson outbreak detection (POD) method and the purely temporal SaTScan analysis. Seasonally-adjusted variants of the NBC and SaTScan methods were developed. Some of the algorithms were applied using a range of parameter values, resulting in 17 variants of the five algorithms. RESULTS: The 9,188 RRV disease notifications that occurred in the four selected regions over the study period showed marked seasonality, which adversely affected the performance of some of the outbreak detection algorithms. Most of the methods examined were able to detect the same major events. The exception was the seasonally-adjusted NBC methods that detected an excess of short signals. The NBC, POD and temporal SaTScan algorithms were the only methods that consistently had high true positive rates and low false positive and false negative rates across the four study areas. The timeliness of outbreak signals generated by each method was also compared but there was no consistency across outbreaks and LGAs. CONCLUSIONS: This study has highlighted several issues associated with applying outbreak detection algorithms to seasonal disease data. In lieu of a true gold standard, a quantitative comparison is difficult and caution should be taken when interpreting the true positives, false positives, sensitivity and specificity.

Dataset Information

Epidemic features affecting the performance of outbreak detection algorithms.

Background

Methods

Results

Publications

Epidemic features affecting the performance of outbreak detection algorithms.

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