Browsing by Author "Paolotti, Daniela"
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- Association between Recruitment Methods and Attrition in Internet-Based StudiesPublication . Bajardi, Paolo; Paolotti, Daniela; Vespignani, Alessandro; Eames, Ken; Funk, Sebastian; Edmunds, W. John; Turbelin, Clement; Debin, Marion; Colizza, Vittoria; Smallenburg, Ronald; Koppeschaar, Carl; Franco, Ana O.; Faustino, Vitor; Carnahan, AnnaSara; Rehn, Moa; Merletti, Franco; Douwes, Jeroen; Firestone, Ridvan; Richiardi, LorenzoInternet-based systems for epidemiological studies have advantages over traditional approaches as they can potentially recruit and monitor a wider range of individuals in a relatively inexpensive fashion. We studied the association between communication strategies used for recruitment (offline, online, face-to-face) and follow-up participation in nine Internet-based cohorts: the Influenzanet network of platforms for influenza surveillance which includes seven cohorts in seven different European countries, the Italian birth cohort Ninfea and the New Zealand birth cohort ELF. Follow-up participation varied from 43% to 89% depending on the cohort. Although there were heterogeneities among studies, participants who became aware of the study through an online communication campaign compared with those through traditional offline media seemed to have a lower follow-up participation in 8 out of 9 cohorts. There were no clear differences in participation between participants enrolled face-to-face and those enrolled through other offline strategies. An Internet-based campaign for Internet-based epidemiological studies seems to be less effective than an offline one in enrolling volunteers who keep participating in follow-up questionnaires. This suggests that even for Internet-based epidemiological studies an offline enrollment campaign would be helpful in order to achieve a higher participation proportion and limit the cohort attrition.
- Ten-year performance of Influenzanet: ILI time series, risks, vaccine effects, and care-seeking behaviourPublication . van Noort, Sander P.; Codeço, Cláudia T.; Koppeschaar, Carl E.; van Ranst, Marc; Paolotti, Daniela; Gomes, M. Gabriela M.Recent public health threats have propelled major innovations on infectious disease monitoring, culminating in the development of innovative syndromic surveillance methods. Influenzanet is an internet-based system that monitors influenza-like illness (ILI) in cohorts of self-reporting volunteers in European countries since 2003. We investigate and confirm coherence through the first ten years in comparison with ILI data from the European Influenza Surveillance Network and demonstrate country-specific behaviour of participants with ILI regarding medical care seeking. Using regression analysis, we determine that chronic diseases, being a child, living with children, being female, smoking and pets at home, are all independent predictors of ILI risk, whereas practicing sports and walking or bicycling for locomotion are associated with a small risk reduction. No effect for using public transportation or living alone was found. Furthermore, we determine the vaccine effectiveness for ILI for each season.
- The representativeness of a European multi-center network for influenza-like-illness participatory surveillancePublication . Cantarelli, Pietro; Debin, Marion; Turbelin, Clément; Poletto, Chiara; Blanchon, Thierry; Falchi, Alessandra; Hanslik, Thomas; Bonmarin, Isabelle; Levy-Bruhl, Daniel; Micheletti, Alessandra; Paolotti, Daniela; Vespignani, Alessandro; Edmunds, John; Eames, Ken; Smallenburg, Ronald; Koppeschaar, Carl; Franco, Ana O; Faustino, Vitor; Carnahan, AnnaSara; Rehn, Moa; Colizza, VittoriaThe Internet is becoming more commonly used as a tool for disease surveillance. Similarly to other surveillance systems and to studies using online data collection, Internet-based surveillance will have biases in participation, affecting the generalizability of the results. Here we quantify the participation biases of Influenzanet, an ongoing European-wide network of Internet-based participatory surveillance systems for influenza-like-illness.