Syndromic surveillance of vaccine-associated adverse events in U.S. emergency departments.
Lakshmi Radhakrishnan, Zachary Stein, Jourdan DeVies, Amanda Smith, Michael Sheppard, Kathleen P Hartnett, Aaron Kite-Powell, Jennifer Adjemian, Loren E Rodgers
Author Information
Lakshmi Radhakrishnan: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Zachary Stein: ICF International Inc., 2635 Corporate Blvd NE Suite 1000, Atlanta, GA 30345, USA.
Jourdan DeVies: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Amanda Smith: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA; Epidemic Intelligence Service assigned to Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Michael Sheppard: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Kathleen P Hartnett: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA; U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
Aaron Kite-Powell: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Jennifer Adjemian: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA; U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
Loren E Rodgers: Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA; U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. Electronic address: lrodgers@cdc.gov.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explored use of emergency department (ED) visit data, during 2018-2020, from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program to monitor vaccine-associated adverse events (VAE) among all age groups. A combination of chief complaint terms and administrative diagnosis codes were used to detect VAE-related ED visits. Postvaccination fever was among the top 10 most frequently noted diagnoses. VAE annual trends demonstrated seasonality; visits trended upward starting in September of each year, coinciding with the administration of seasonal influenza vaccines. The 2020 VAE-related visit trend declined below the 2018 and 2019 baselines during March 22-September 5, 2020, before returning to the seasonal pattern. VAE-related visits declined in children aged 3-18 years in 2020 compared with 2018-2019, especially in the back-to-school months. These findings demonstrate that syndromic surveillance can complement traditional VAE reporting systems without an additional demand on data collection resources.
