Reconstructing the age-structured case count of COVID-19 from sentinel surveillance data in Japan: A modeling study

Bibliographic Details
Title: Reconstructing the age-structured case count of COVID-19 from sentinel surveillance data in Japan: A modeling study
Authors: Yuta Okada, Minami Ueda, Hiroshi Nishiura
Source: International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol 148, Iss , Pp 107223- (2024)
Publisher Information: Elsevier, 2024.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: LCC:Infectious and parasitic diseases
Subject Terms: COVID-19, Sentinel surveillance, Epidemic size, Time-series analysis, Japan, Infectious and parasitic diseases, RC109-216
More Details: Objectives: To reconstruct age-structured case counts of COVID-19 using sentinel reporting, which replaced universal reporting of COVID-19 from May 2023 in Japan. Methods: Using COVID-19 sentinel data stratified by discrete age groups in selected prefectures and referring to universal case count data up to May 8, 2023, we fitted a statistical model to handle weekly growth rates as a function of age and time so as to convert sentinel data to case counts after cessation of universal reporting. Results: The age distribution of cases in sentinel reporting was significantly biased toward younger age groups compared to universal reporting. When comparing the epidemic size of the 9th wave (May 8 to September 18, 2023) to the 8th wave (October 3, 2022 to April 10, 2023), using the wave-on-wave ratio of total cumulative sentinel cases led to a significant underestimation of the wave-on-wave in Tokyo (0.975, vs 1.461 by universal reporting) and Okinawa (1.299, vs 1.472). The estimates of growth rates, scaling factors between universal and sentinel cases, and expected universal case count showed robustness to changes in the ending week of the data period. Conclusion: Our model quantified COVID-19 dynamics, comparably to universal reporting that ended in May 2023, enabling detailed and up-to-date health burden analysis using sentinel reports. The cumulative incidence was greater than that suggested from sentinel data in Tokyo, Nara, and Okinawa. Per-population burdens among children were particularly high in Osaka and Nara, indicating a strong bias in sentinel reporting toward pediatric cases.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1201-9712
Relation: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971224002947; https://doaj.org/toc/1201-9712
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107223
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/73df11752e9e450c8ba91ef9e91e5cfb
Accession Number: edsdoj.73df11752e9e450c8ba91ef9e91e5cfb
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:12019712
DOI:10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107223
Published in:International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Language:English