Browsing by Author "McDonald, Scott A."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Burden of Disease Methods: a Guide to Calculate COVID-19 Disability-Adjusted Life YearsPublication . Wyper, Grant; Assunção, Ricardo; Colzani, Edoardo; Grant, Ian; Haagsma, Juanita A; Lagerweij, Giske; Von der Lippe, Elena; McDonald, Scott A.; Pires, Sara; Porst, Michael; Speybroeck, Niko; Devleesschauwer, BrechtBackground: To date, most efforts to understand the comparative population health impact of COVID-19 have been made using mortality-based metrics. This has intensified discussion over methodological choices; in particular, how we value the life-years prematurely lost due to COVID-19. So far, the direct impact of COVID-19 on population health has varied across countries, with wide variation in incidence and infection fatality rates. Understanding and quantifying the combined impact of morbidity and mortality is a key step to standardizing comparisons across countries, and to quantify the within-country impact of COVID-19 relative to other causes of disease and injury, sub-national areas or demographics. This can be achieved by estimating summary measures of population health like disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The estimation of DALYs is useful to provide comprehensive and comparative public health intelligence to inform decision-making for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly around the extent of direct and indirect consequences. At present, the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study has not integrated COVID-19. Some studies have already estimated DALYs due to COVID-19. The first published assessment was performed for Korea, up until the end of April 2020. An assessment, using a similar time frame, followed for Italy. To date, published studies have only included one COVID-19 related health state, or disability weights were country-specific. Aim: Our paper provides a step-by-step guide to define COVID-19 as a cause of disease burden, which can be used to calculate DALYs. Additionally, we suggest pragmatic data inputs, reflecting that availability and quality of data inputs will vary by country. This paper builds on previous DALY calculation guides. As our paper provides suggestions for different solutions, we recommend that users should be clear about their methodological choices to aid comparisons and knowledge translation.
- Impact of influenza vaccination programmes among the elderly population on primary care, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands: 2015/16 to 2017/18 influenza seasonsPublication . Machado, Ausenda; Mazagatos, Clara; Dijkstra, Frederika; Kislaya, Irina; Gherasim, Alin; McDonald, Scott A.; Kissling, Esther; Valenciano, Marta; Meijer, Adam; Hooiveld, Mariëtte; Nunes, Baltazar; Larrauri, AmparoTo increase the acceptability of influenza vaccine, it is important to quantify the overall benefits of the vaccination programme.AimTo assess the impact of influenza vaccination in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, we estimated the number of medically attended influenza-confirmed cases (MAICC) in primary care averted in the seasons 2015/16 to 2017/18 among those ≥ 65 years.We used an ecological approach to estimate vaccination impact. We compared the number of observed MAICC (n) to the estimated number that would have occurred without the vaccination programme (N). To estimate N, we used: (i) MAICC estimated from influenza surveillance systems, (ii) vaccine coverage, (iii) pooled (sub)type-specific influenza vaccine effectiveness estimates for seasons 2015/16 to 2017/18, weighted by the proportion of virus circulation in each season and country. We estimated the number of MAICC averted (NAE) and the prevented fraction (PF) by the vaccination programme. The annual average of NAE in the population ≥ 65 years was 33, 58 and 204 MAICC per 100,000 in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, respectively. On average, influenza vaccination prevented 10.7%, 10.9% and 14.2% of potential influenza MAICC each season in these countries. The lowest PF was in 2016/17 (4.9-6.1%) with an NAE ranging from 24 to 69 per 100,000. Our results suggest that influenza vaccination programmes reduced a substantial number of MAICC. Together with studies on hospitalisations and deaths averted by influenza vaccination programmes, this will contribute to the evaluation of the impact of vaccination strategies and strengthen public health communication.