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Window of Opportunity for New Disease Surveillance: Developing Keyword Lists for Monitoring Mental Health and Injury Through Syndromic Surveillance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2016

Ursula Lauper ,
Jian-Hua Chen  and
Shao Lin
Ursula Lauper*
Affiliation:
State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Albany, New York
Jian-Hua Chen
Affiliation:
New York State Department of Health, Division of Epidemiology, Albany, New York.
Shao Lin
Affiliation:
State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Albany, New York
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Ursula Lauper, MA, MPH, SUNY at Albany School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, 1 University Place, Rensselaer, NY 12144 (e-mail: ulauper@albany.edu).
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Abstract

Studies have documented the impact that hurricanes have on mental health and injury rates before, during, and after the event. Since timely tracking of these disease patterns is crucial to disaster planning, response, and recovery, syndromic surveillance keyword filters were developed by the New York State Department of Health to study the short- and long-term impacts of Hurricane Sandy. Emergency department syndromic surveillance is recognized as a valuable tool for informing public health activities during and immediately following a disaster. Data typically consist of daily visit reports from hospital emergency departments (EDs) of basic patient data and free-text chief complaints. To develop keyword lists, comparisons were made with existing CDC categories and then integrated with lists from the New York City and New Jersey health departments in a collaborative effort. Two comprehensive lists were developed, each containing multiple subcategories and over 100 keywords for both mental health and injury. The data classifiers using these keywords were used to assess impacts of Sandy on mental health and injuries in New York State. The lists will be validated by comparing the ED chief complaint keyword with the final ICD diagnosis code. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:173–178)

Keywords

syndromic surveillancehurricanemental healthinjurymethods
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , pp. 173 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2016 

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