Acute gastrointestinal illness in adults in Germany: a population-based telephone survey

Abstract

SUMMARYPopulation-based estimates of incidence and risk factors for acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) are important for infectious disease surveillance and healthcare planning. We conducted a nationwide representative cross-sectional telephone survey of 21 262 adults over a 12-month period during 2008-2009 in Germany. Participants were asked if they had either AGI-related diarrhoea or vomiting in a 4-week recall period. We estimated 0·95 episodes/person per year (95% confidence interval 0·90-0·99), corresponding to 64·9 million episodes of AGI annually in adults, which results in 24·5 million outpatient visits, 19·9 million hospital days and 63·2 million days of work lost. We observed an overall declining trend of AGI with increasing age. Diarrhoea was more often reported than vomiting. The mean duration of illness was 3·8 days and did not differ between age groups. Social factors seemed to be weak predictors compared to state of health and health behaviour characteristics. This study allows international comparisons and contributes to the estimation of the global burden of AGI.

A screening algorithm for diagnosing bacterial gastroenteritis by real-time PCR in combination with guided culture

“…In Germany the incidence of acute gastroenteritis was estimated to be 0.95 episodes/person per year; whereas in the US an incidence of 0.65 episodes/person per year was reported when excluding episodes of diarrhea due to any chronic illness or condition (Roy et al 2006;Wilking et al 2013). The annual cost of gastroenteritis was estimated to be €37 -42 per capita in the Netherlands and even up to €207 per capita in Canada (Henson et al 2008;Friesema et al 2012).…”

Burden of acute gastrointestinal infections in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

“…In our study, no one was hospitalized due to GI, while a stool sample had been taken by health care agents in 4% of the cases so as to verify the causative agent for GI. This proportion of stool samples taken is lower than in developed countries [6,8,25,26]. People in developing countries, such as Burkina Faso, do not usually consult a health care agent in the case of GI, since they mistrust the quality of care.…”

Population based self-reported acute gastrointestinal infection in slovenia: multiplier study

“…Therefore, extrapolation based on a one month study might be questionable. Multiplier studies in which the selected study population was surveyed for 12 months have been published and give much better insight into multiplier of AGI than one-month studies (22,23). The main drawback of a one-year multiplier study is high cost.…”