A common, symptom-based case definition for gastroenteritis

Sarah O'Brien, S. E. Majowicz, G. Hall, E. Scallan, G. K. Adak, C. Gauci, T. F. Jones, S. O'Brien, O. Henao, P. Sockett

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    National studies determining the burden of gastroenteritis have defined gastroenteritis by its clinical picture, using symptoms to classify cases and non-cases. The use of different case definitions has complicated inter-country comparisons. We selected four case definitions from the literature, applied these to population data from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malta and the United States, and evaluated how the epidemiology of illness varied. Based on the results, we developed a standard case definition. The choice of case definition impacted on the observed incidence of gastroenteritis, with a 1·5&-2·1 times difference between definitions in a given country. The proportion of cases with bloody diarrhoea, fever, and the proportion who sought medical care and submitted a stool sample also varied. The mean age of cases varied by
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)886-894
    Number of pages8
    JournalEpidemiology and infection
    Volume136
    Issue number7
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2008

    Keywords

    • Age Factors
    • epidemiology: Australia
    • standards: Biomedical Research
    • epidemiology: Canada
    • Child, Preschool
    • Epidemiologic Methods
    • Epidemiologic Research Design
    • Female
    • diagnosis: Gastroenteritis
    • Humans
    • Incidence
    • Infant
    • epidemiology: Ireland
    • Male
    • epidemiology: Malta
    • epidemiology: United States

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