摘要：The Victorian Sentinel Practice Influenza Networkconducts syndromic surveillance for influenza-likeillness (ILI), with testing for laboratory confirmationof a proportion of cases at the discretion of generalpractitioners. The aim of this study was to evaluatethe consistency of sentinel general practitioners’swabbing practice within and between influenzaseasons. Aggregated, weekly, non-identified datafor May to October each year from 2007 to 2014were used to calculate the proportion of patientspresenting with ILI (defined as cough, fever andfatigue), proportion of ILI patients swabbed andproportion of swabs positive for influenza. Data onthe proportion of consultations for ILI and the proportionof ILI patients swabbed were aggregatedinto time-period quintiles for each year. Analysisof variance was used to compare ILI patientsswabbed for each aggregated time-period quintileover all 8 years. Spearman’s correlation andBland-Altman analyses were used to measureassociation and agreement respectively betweenILI proportions of consultations and swabs positivefor influenza in time period quintiles within eachyear. Data were aggregated by year for the rest ofthe analyses. Between 2007 and 2014 there wasa slight decrease in the proportion of positive testsand the proportion of ILI patients was generally agood proxy for influenza test positivity. There wasconsistency in testing within and between seasons,despite an overall testing increase between 2007and 2014. There was no evidence for temporalsampling bias in these data despite testing notbeing performed on a systematic basis. This samplingregimen could also be considered in othersimilar surveillance systems. Commun Dis Intell2017;41(1):E4–E9.
关键词：influenza; influenza-like illness;sentinel surveillance; primary health care;Australia
