Measuring the Masses: A Proposed Template for Post-Event Medical Reporting (Paper 4)

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Event Medicine

Background:

• Current health outcome reporting for mass gatherings (MGs) lacks standardization, compromising data quality.
• Improving data quality through minimum case reporting standards is crucial for understanding event-related health impacts.
• This research is part of a series examining current and future post-event health reporting practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a standardized template for post-event medical reporting for mass gatherings.
• To identify and organize essential variables for consistent health outcome reporting.
• To enhance the quality and comparability of data collected after mass gatherings.

Main Methods:

• A literature synthesis of 54 post-event case reports was conducted.
• Existing data models for mass gatherings were compared.
• Qualitative analysis identified gaps in current case reporting.
• Essential reporting fields were developed based on synthesized data.

Main Results:

• Existing literature inconsistently reports crucial variables for describing and explaining health outcomes.
• Twenty-five essential variables were identified for standardized reporting.
• These variables are organized into four key domains: Event, Hazard and Risk, Capacity, and Clinical.

Conclusions:

• A first-generation template for post-event medical reporting, standardizing 25 essential variables, is proposed.
• An accompanying data dictionary provides standardization and background for each variable.
• This template aims to improve data collection, enable event comparisons, and advance the science of mass gathering health.