References Database from Behavioural change models for infectious disease transmission: a systematic review (2010–2015)

We review behavioural change models (BCM) for infectious disease transmission in humans. Following the Cochrane collaboration guidelines and the PRISMA statement, our systematic search and selection yielded 178 papers covering the period 2010–2015. We observe an increasing trend in published BCMs, frequently coupled to (re)emergence events, and propose a categorization by distinguishing how information translates into preventive actions. Behaviour is usually captured by introducing information as a dynamic parameter (76/178) or by introducing an economic objective function, either with (26/178) or without (37/178) imitation. Approaches using information thresholds (29/178) and exogenous behaviour formation (16/178) are also popular. We further classify according to disease, prevention measure, transmission model (with 81/178 population, 6/178 metapopulation and 91/178 individual-level models) and the way prevention impacts transmission. We highlight the minority (15%) of studies that use any real-life data for parametrization or validation and note that BCMs increasingly use social media data and generally incorporate multiple sources of information (16/178), multiple types of information (17/178) or both (9/178). We conclude that individual-level models are increasingly used and useful to model behaviour changes. Despite recent advancements, we remain concerned that most models are purely theoretical and lack representative data and a validation process

Influenza-Like-Illness and Clinically Diagnosed Flu: Disease Burden, Costs and Quality of Life for Patients Seeking Ambulatory Care or No Professional Care at All

<div><p>This is one of the first studies to (1) describe the out-of-hospital burden of influenza-like-illness (ILI) and clinically diagnosed flu, also for patients not seeking professional medical care, (2) assess influential background characteristics, and (3) formally compare the burden of ILI in patients with and without a clinical diagnosis of flu. A general population sample with recent ILI experience was recruited during the 2011–2012 influenza season in Belgium. Half of the 2250 respondents sought professional medical care, reported more symptoms (especially more often fever), a longer duration of illness, more use of medication (especially antibiotics) and a higher direct medical cost than patients not seeking medical care. The disease and economic burden were similar for ambulatory ILI patients, irrespective of whether they received a clinical diagnosis of flu. On average, they experienced 5–6 symptoms over a 6-day period; required 1.6 physician visits and 86–91% took medication. An average episode amounted to €51–€53 in direct medical costs, 4 days of absence from work or school and the loss of 0.005 quality-adjusted life-years. Underlying illness led to greater costs and lower quality-of-life. The costs of ILI patients with clinically diagnosed flu tended to increase, while those of ILI patients without clinically diagnosed flu tended to decrease with age. Recently vaccinated persons experienced lower costs and a higher quality-of-life, but this was only the case for patients not seeking professional medical care. This information can be used directly to evaluate the implementation of cost-effective prevention and control measures for influenza. In particular to inform the evaluation of more widespread seasonal influenza vaccination, including in children, which is currently considered by many countries.</p></div

Medication use of ILI patients.

<p>Number of respondents using different types of medication, separately for medication bought in the pharmacy and medication that respondents had in storage at home. Each respondent could specify several types of medication bought or at home. ‘Don’t know’ refers to medication taken without being sure about which type.</p

DS_10.1177_0272989X18776636 – Supplemental material for Sponsorship Bias in Base-Case Values and Uncertainty Bounds of Health Economic Evaluations?

<p>Supplemental material, DS_10.1177_0272989X18776636 for Sponsorship Bias in Base-Case Values and Uncertainty Bounds of Health Economic Evaluations? by Joke Bilcke, Frederik Verelst and Philippe Beutels in Medical Decision Making</p

Quality-Adjusted Life-Years lost for ambulatory ILI patients.

<p>Estimated average Quality-Adjusted Life-Years lost as a function of having an underlying illness and age, separately for ambulatory ILI respondents categorized as ‘likely flu’ or ‘unlikely flu’.</p

Costs for ambulatory ILI patients.

<p>Estimated average direct medical cost (€, using lowest unit cost for medication) as a function of having an underlying illness and age, separately for ambulatory ILI respondents categorized as ‘likely flu’ or ‘unlikely flu’.</p

Estimated direct medical cost and quality-of-life associated with ILI and clinically diagnosed flu patients in Belgium, as a function of significant predictor variables (gender, underlying condition ‘cond’, age and/or vaccination status (‘vac’ = vaccinated just before or during the last flu season)).

<p>95% uncertainty intervals are obtained by bootstrapping (1000 samples). #Age was included as continuous predictor variable in the regression models but for clarity this table presents estimates for only 3 ages (in years).</p

Description of selected prospective longitudinal studies on VZV-immunity post exposure and other selected studies.

<p><i>RE</i> re-exposed; <i>CP</i> chickenpox; <i>CO</i> controls; <i>VZV</i> varicella-zoster virus; <i>RIA</i> radioimmunoassay; <i>PBMC</i> peripheral blood mononuclear cells; <i>TT</i> tetanus toxine; <i>PHA</i> phytohemagglutin; <i>IFN</i> interferon; <i>Cpm</i> counts per minute; <i>FAMA</i> fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen; <i>FCM</i> flow cytometry; <i>ICS</i> intracellular cytokine staining; <i>ELISPOT</i> enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot; <i>GMR</i> geometric mean response; <i>ELISA</i> enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; <i>RCF</i> responder cell frequency; <i>HCW</i> health-care workers.</p>*<p>H = High: the quality of methods used in this paper permits the results, within the scope of the study design, to be interpreted with at the most a few remarks. M = Medium: the quality of methods used in this paper permits the results, within the scope of the study design, to be interpreted, but with some caution. L = Low: the quality of methods used in this paper urges the reader to interpret the results, even within the scope of the study design, with sufficient caution.</p><p>£See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0066485#pone.0066485.s002" target="_blank">Table S2</a>.</p>**<p>The ‘B’ statement expresses whether the study supported the existence of exogenous boosting (‘+) or not (‘−’).</p

Herpes Zoster Risk Reduction through Exposure to Chickenpox Patients: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review

<div><p>Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) causes chickenpox and may subsequently reactivate to cause herpes zoster later in life. The exogenous boosting hypothesis states that re-exposure to circulating VZV can inhibit VZV reactivation and consequently also herpes zoster in VZV-immune individuals. Using this hypothesis, mathematical models predicted widespread chickenpox vaccination to increase herpes zoster incidence over more than 30 years. Some countries have postponed universal chickenpox vaccination, at least partially based on this prediction. After a systematic search and selection procedure, we analyzed different types of exogenous boosting studies. We graded 13 observational studies on herpes zoster incidence after widespread chickenpox vaccination, 4 longitudinal studies on VZV immunity after re-exposure, 9 epidemiological risk factor studies, 7 mathematical modeling studies as well as 7 other studies. We conclude that exogenous boosting exists, although not for all persons, nor in all situations. Its magnitude is yet to be determined adequately in any study field.</p></div

Description of selected observational studies on HZ incidence in populations with a widespread chickenpox vaccination program.

<p><i>HMO</i> health maintenance organization; <i>HZ</i> herpes zoster; <i>CP</i> chickenpox; <i>RR</i> relative risk; <i>PY</i> person-years; <i>MMDS</i> Melbourne Medical Deputising Service; <i>ER</i> emergency room.</p>§<p>Descriptions of vaccination uptake are as reported in the respective original papers.</p>*<p>H = High: the quality of methods used in this paper permits the results, within the scope of the study design, to be interpreted with at the most a few remarks. M = Medium: the quality of methods used in this paper permits the results, within the scope of the study design, to be interpreted, but with some caution. L = Low: the quality of methods used in this paper urges the reader to interpret the results, even within the scope of the study design, with sufficient caution.</p><p>£See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0066485#pone.0066485.s002" target="_blank">Table S2</a>.</p>**<p>The ‘B’ statement expresses whether the study supported the existence of exogenous boosting (‘+) or not (‘−’).</p