Inns, Thomas 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1218-958X
(2022)
CHANGe - a prospective cohort study to investigate the burden and transmission of acute gastroenteritis in care homes.
[Data Collection]
Description
Noroviruses are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in all age groups, but illness is more severe and causes excess mortality in the elderly, particularly those in long term care. The total burden of norovirus disease in the elderly in the UK is poorly defined; no current surveillance programmes systematically or accurately quantify norovirus infection in those living in care homes. The aim of this study was to evaluate an enhanced surveillance system for acute gastroenteritis among the elderly in care homes. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Five participating care homes in North West England, United Kingdom. Participants Residents and staff present at the five study care homes between 15 August 2017 and 30 May 2019 (n = 268). Outcome measures We calculated incidence rates for all gastroenteritis cases per 1000 person-years at risk and per 1000 bed-days at risk. We also calculated the incidence rate of gastroenteritis outbreaks per 100 care homes per year. Results In total 45 cases were reported during the surveillance period, equating to 133.7 cases per 1000 person-years at risk. In residents the incidence rate was 0.62 cases per 1000 beddays. We observed 7 outbreaks in all care homes included in surveillance, a rate of 76.4 outbreaks per 100 care homes per year. 15 stool samples were tested; three were positive for norovirus, no other pathogens were detected. Conclusions We found that surveillance of infectious gastroenteritis disease in care homes based on outbreaks, the current general approach, detected a majority of cases of gastroenteritis. However, if policymakers are to estimate the burden of infectious gastroenteritis in this setting using only routine outbreak surveillance data and not accounting for non-outbreak cases, this study implies that the total burden will be underestimated
| Keywords: | Gastroenteritis, gastrointestinal disease, epidemiology, cohort |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Health and Life Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Thomas Inns |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Feb 2022 13:23 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Feb 2022 13:23 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/1623 |
| URI: | https://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/1623 |
Available Files
Data
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Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 |
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Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 |
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 |
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 |
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 |
