New Lyme Disease Findings Has Been Reported by Investigators at Harvard University (Using Nation-Wide Health Insurance Claims Data to Augment Lyme…

New Lyme Disease Findings Has Been Reported by Investigators at Harvard University (Using Nation-Wide Health Insurance Claims Data to Augment Lyme Disease Surveillance)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- A new study on Borrelia Infections is now available. According to news originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Lyme disease (LD) is the most commonly reported tick-borne illness in North America. To improve LD surveillance, we explored claims data as an adjunct data source for monitoring trends in Lyme disease incidence."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Harvard University, "We retrospectively analyzed claims from a nationwide US health insurance plan, identifying patients with newly diagnosed LD in 13 high-prevalence states over two time periods, 2004-2006 and 2010-2012. The average LD case incidence as estimated by using claims data in 2010-2012 (75.67 per 100,000 person-years, n=3474) was 1.50 times higher than 2004-2006 (50.25 per 100,000 person-years, n=1965) (p <0.001) and higher than incidence reported by the states to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among the 13 highest-prevalence states, there were 11 states with increased LD incidence over time."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Surveillance systems should explore a fusion of data sources, including payer claims that appear to be highly sensitive with limitations, with electronic laboratory data that afford high specificity, but appear to miss cases."

For more information on this research see: Using Nation-Wide Health Insurance Claims Data to Augment Lyme Disease Surveillance. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2015;15(10):591-596. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases can be contacted at: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, 140 Huguenot Street, 3RD Fl, New Rochelle, NY 10801, USA. (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. - www.liebertpub.com; Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases - www.liebertpub.com/overview/vector-borne-and-zoonotic-diseases/67/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Y.J. Tseng, Harvard University, Sch Med, Dept. of Biomed Informat, Boston, MA, United States. Additional authors for this research include A. Cami, D.A. Goldmann, A. DeMaria and K.D. Mandl.

Keywords for this news article include: Boston, Lyme Disease, Massachusetts, United States, Health Insurance, Infectious Disease, Borrelia Infections, Tick-Borne Diseases, North and Central America, Spirochaetales Infections, Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections

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