Effect of the SARS outbreak on visits to a community hospital emergency department

Abstract

, 18%-24%) over the 4-week study period. The greatest reduction was for combined infant and toddler visits (69%; 95% CI, 58%-79%); these did not recover the following year. However, during the SARS outbreak there was a large increase in the number of visits for respiratory illnesses in adults (61%; 95% CI, 46%-75%) and in teenagers (132%; 95% CI, 82%-182%). Conclusions: During the SARS outbreak, total ED visits fell. The relative decline was most notable for infants and toddlers. By contrast, there was an increase in respiratory illness-related visits for adults and teenagers. In 2004, the year following the SARS outbreak, visit patterns shifted toward baseline levels, but ED visits by infants and toddlers remained depressed.

The impact of communications about swine flu (influenza A H1N1v) on public responses to the outbreak: results from 36 national telephone surveys in the UK.

“…One explanation for this discrepancy between our findings concerning the role of receiving information about the outbreak and those of previous studies 9,19,60,67 is that information may have a different effect on vaccine intentions depending on the stage of the outbreak. While the spread of information during the study period had no impact on likely vaccine uptake, stronger associations might have been observed earlier in the swine flu outbreak when members of the public were less certain about the transmission or nature of the illness.…”

“…21 Several studies have suggested that media reporting about features of an outbreak, such as the number of cases or deaths, might influence key health behaviours. 9,19,60,67 However, we found no evidence to suggest that how much people had heard about swine flu in the past week affected likely vaccine uptake or that specific aspects of what they had heard had any substantial impact. The only exception was a weak association between having heard that the number of deaths from swine flu had increased recently and greater likelihood of accepting the swine flu vaccine.…”

“…Levels of worry showed larger fluctuations in the first half of the data collection period, rising from initially low levels (9.6-16.6% during May) to a peak of 19.3% in mid-June immediately following the declaration of a full pandemic by the World Health Organization, and a second peak of 32.9% in mid-July at the height of the summer wave of the outbreak. Following the summer wave, levels of worry then remained more stable from the end of August onwards, although smaller increases coinciding with the start of the winter wave of the outbreak and the start of the vaccination campaign were observed.…”

“…14,15 Reporting by these news sources has long been recognised as a key factor that can affect people's health-related behaviours and have both positive and negative consequences for the public's health. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22] One way in which the media exert these effects is by 'setting the agenda'. The theory of agenda setting suggests that the more coverage an issue receives, regardless of the nature of that coverage, the more important it becomes to members of the public.…”

“…For example, research conducted during the SARS outbreak of 2003 suggested that changes in media reporting relating to the incidence, prevalence and location of cases had an effect on levels of anxiety and other health-related behaviours. 9,19,60 Although the impact of mass media campaigns on vaccine uptake has previously been documented, 20,61 few studies have assessed whether the way in which an infectious disease outbreak is reported or perceived affects desire for vaccination. 21 In this study, we analysed data from the telephone surveys commissioned by the Department of Health, England to identify variables associated with the 2009 swine flu outbreak that might encourage people to receive vaccination.…”