TY - JOUR
T1 - New estimates of incidence of encephalitis in England
AU - Granerod, Julia
AU - Cousens, Simon
AU - Davies, Nicholas W.S.
AU - Crowcroft, Natasha S.
AU - Thomas, Sara L.
PY - 2013/9
Y1 - 2013/9
N2 - Encephalitis causes high rates of illness and death, yet its epidemiology remains poorly understood. To improve incidence estimates in England and inform priority setting and treatment and prevention strategies, we used hospitalization data to estimate incidence of infectious and noninfectious encephalitis during 2005-2009. Hospitalization data were linked to a dataset of extensively investigated cases of encephalitis from a prospective study, and capture-recapture models were applied. Incidence was estimated from unlinked hospitalization data as 4.32 cases/100,000 population/year. Capture-recapture models gave a best estimate of encephalitis incidence of 5.23 cases/100,000/year, although the models' indicated incidence could be as high as 8.66 cases/100,000/year. This analysis indicates that the incidence of encephalitis in England is considerably higher than previously estimated. Therefore, encephalitis should be a greater priority for clinicians, researchers, and public health officials.
AB - Encephalitis causes high rates of illness and death, yet its epidemiology remains poorly understood. To improve incidence estimates in England and inform priority setting and treatment and prevention strategies, we used hospitalization data to estimate incidence of infectious and noninfectious encephalitis during 2005-2009. Hospitalization data were linked to a dataset of extensively investigated cases of encephalitis from a prospective study, and capture-recapture models were applied. Incidence was estimated from unlinked hospitalization data as 4.32 cases/100,000 population/year. Capture-recapture models gave a best estimate of encephalitis incidence of 5.23 cases/100,000/year, although the models' indicated incidence could be as high as 8.66 cases/100,000/year. This analysis indicates that the incidence of encephalitis in England is considerably higher than previously estimated. Therefore, encephalitis should be a greater priority for clinicians, researchers, and public health officials.
KW - acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
KW - autoimmune diseases
KW - encephalitis
KW - incidence studies
KW - neurological
KW - viral infections
KW - viruses
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84882700637&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3201/eid1909.130064
DO - 10.3201/eid1909.130064
M3 - Article
C2 - 23969035
AN - SCOPUS:84882700637
SN - 1080-6040
VL - 19
JO - Emerging Infectious Diseases
JF - Emerging Infectious Diseases
IS - 9
ER -