Evaluating the impact on health outcomes of an event that resulted in a delay in contact tracing of COVID-19 cases in England, September 2020: an observational study.
BMJ Open
; 13(10): e064982, 2023 10 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37827740
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
In September 2020, 15 861 SARS-CoV-2 case records failed to upload from the Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS) to the Contact Tracing Advisory Service (CTAS) tool, delaying the contact tracing of these cases. This study used CTAS data to determine the impact of this delay on population healthoutcomes:
transmission events, hospitalisations and mortality. Previously, a modelling study suggested a substantial impact.DESIGN:
Observational study.SETTING:
England. POPULATION Individuals testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and their reported contacts. MAIN OUTCOMEMEASURES:
Secondary attack rates (SARs), hospitalisations and deaths among primary and secondary contacts were calculated, compared with all other concurrent, unaffected cases. Affected SGSS records were matched to CTAS records. Successive contacts and cases were identified and matched to hospital episode and mortality outcomes.RESULTS:
Initiation of contact tracing was delayed by 3 days on average in the primary cases in the delay group (6 days) compared with the control group (3 days). This was associated with lower completion of contact tracing 80% (95% CI 79% to 81%) in delay group and 83% (95% CI 83% to 84%) in control group. There was some evidence to suggest increased transmission to non-household contacts among those affected by the delay. The SAR for non-household contacts was higher among secondary contacts in the delay group than the control group (delay group 7.9%, 95% CI 6.5% to 9.2%; control group 5.9%, 95% CI 5.3% to 6.6%). There did not appear to be a significant difference between the delay and control groups in the odds of hospitalisation (crude OR 1.1 (95% CI 0.9 to 1.2)) or death (crude OR 0.7 (95% CI 0.1 to 4.0)) among secondary contacts.CONCLUSIONS:
Our analysis suggests that the delay in contact tracing had a limited impact on population health outcomes; however, contact tracing was not completed for all individuals, so some transmission events might not be captured.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
COVID-19
Limite:
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article