Spillover effects in epidemiology: parameters, study designs and methodological considerations.

ABSTRACT: Many public health interventions provide benefits that extend beyond their direct recipients and impact people in close physical or social proximity who did not directly receive the intervention themselves. A classic example of this phenomenon is the herd protection provided by many vaccines. If these 'spillover effects' (i.e. 'herd effects') are present in the same direction as the effects on the intended recipients, studies that only estimate direct effects on recipients will likely underestimate the full public health benefits of the intervention. Causal inference assumptions for spillover parameters have been articulated in the vaccine literature, but many studies measuring spillovers of other types of public health interventions have not drawn upon that literature. In conjunction with

SUBMITTER: Benjamin-Chung J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5837695 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature