Page 58 - Timeliness of Infectious Disease Notification & Response Systems - Corien Swaan

56 Chapter 3
There is a lack of international reviews on which factors related to notification systems influence timeliness of reporting of infectious diseases. In this study, a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature was performed to assess timeli- ness of notification systems. In order to determine factors associated with timely notification, we compared timeliness of notification systems in three ways: first- ly using the ‘predefined timeframe’, i.e. the timeliness criteria designated by the study itself, secondly using a ‘standardized timeframe’, i.e. identical timeliness criteria for all studies designated for this review, and thirdly using ‘disease spe- cific timeframes’, i.e. timeliness criteria differentiated between specific diseases.
Figure 1. Notification timeline
D: delay; T: time point; D1: delay between onset of disease and notification at local health department (LHD); D2: delay between ordering a laboratory confirmation test and notification at LHD; D3X and D3P: delays between laboratory conformation test result and notification at the LHD by the laboratory and by the physician respectively; D4: delays between notification at LHD and reporting at regional health department (RHD); D5: delay between reporting at RHD and the national health department (NHD).
Arrows: delays used in this article.
Methodology
Search strategy and selection criteria
A systematic review was conducted using the PRISMA framework (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses). Articles reviewing timeliness of infectious disease notification systems, published during January 1st 2000 - January 1st 2017 were included. Earlier articles were excluded to avoid