Using electronic health records and Internet search information for accurate influenza forecasting.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Accurate influenza activity forecasting helps public health officials prepare and allocate resources for unusual influenza activity. Traditional flu surveillance systems, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) influenza-like illnesses reports, lag behind real-time by one to 2 weeks, whereas information contained in cloud-based electronic health records (EHR) and in Internet users' search activity is typically available in near real-time. We present a method that combines the information from these two data sources with historical flu activity to produce national flu forecasts for the United States up to 4 weeks ahead of the publication of CDC's flu reports.

Methods

We extend a method originally designed to track flu using Google searches, n

SUBMITTER: Yang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5423019 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature