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[A morbidity information system based on school absenteeism]
L Mitjans1, C Pons, O Zurriaga
1Servei de Vigilància Epidemiològica de la Direcció General de Promoció de la Salut de la Conselleria de Sanitat i Consum, Generalitat Valenciana.
Insights
This pilot study introduced a school-based information system to track child morbidity in the Valencian Community. The system effectively estimated illness rates, demonstrating high teacher collaboration and valid data collection.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health Surveillance
- Epidemiology
- Public Health Informatics
Context:
- A novel information system was piloted to monitor child morbidity (ages 4-15) in 60 schools across the Valencian Community over 13 weeks.
- The system focused on school absences of three days or longer, utilizing teacher and parent reports, supplemented by medical certifications.
Purpose:
- To evaluate the feasibility and validity of a school-based information system for assessing infant morbidity.
- To compare the system's data with the Notifiable Diseases System (NDS) for hepatitis cases to validate its accuracy.
Summary:
- The system recorded 3,968 absences, yielding cumulative incidences of 100.68/1,000 for females and 119.4/1,000 for males, with statistically significant differences.
- A concordance rate of 80.25% was found between the absenteeism registry and the NDS for hepatitis cases.
- Despite excluding absences shorter than three days, the system provided relevant and valid morbidity estimates.
Impact:
- The pilot demonstrated the system's potential for effective health information gathering in schools.
- High teacher collaboration was noted, supporting the expansion of this health information system to five health areas in the Valencian Community.
Abstract:
We present a pilot experience about the introduction of a information system designed for the knowledge of infant morbidity (4-15 years) in a 13 school week period in a representative sample of 60 schools of the Valencian Community. We studied school absences that lasted three days or longer. Reports of teachers and parents were the source of information (100% response rate). Medical certification was also requested to the pediatricians and general practitioners of the area of the schools (12.74% response rate). To test the validity of this information system, absences caused by hepatitis were compared with the registry of Notifiable Diseases System (NDS) for the same period. We recorded 3,968 absences, with a cumulative incidence of 100.68 per 1,000 (C.I., alpha = .05, +/- 4.97) for females, and 119.4 (C.I., alpha = .05, +/- 18.36) for males. These differences were statistically significant. There was a concordance of 80.25% of the hepatitis cases between the registry of absenteeism and that of the NDS (chi 2 goodness of fit test = 3.16, p = .754). Although absences shorter than 3 days were not taken into account, the information system provided relevant and valid estimates of morbidity. Moreover, collaboration of teachers was considered very positive, which led us to use this health information system in five health areas of the Valencian Community.