Incidence, Duration, and Risk Factors Associated With Missed Opportunities to Diagnose Herpes Simplex Encephalitis: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Delays in diagnosing herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this paper is to determine the frequency and duration of diagnostic delays for HSE and risk factors for diagnostic delays.

Methods

Using data from the IBM Marketscan Databases, 2001-2017, we performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with HSE. We estimated the number of visits with HSE-related symptoms before diagnosis that would be expected to occur in the absence of delays and compared this estimate to the observed pattern of visits. Next, we used a simulation-based approach to compute the number of visits representing a delay, the number of missed diagnostic opportunities per case patient, and the duration of delays. We also inves

SUBMITTER: Miller AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8415533 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature