title: Invasive disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae: the sensitivity of statutory reporting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to investigate the sensitivity of the statutory reporting of Haemophilus influenzae invasive disease (HIID) during the period between 1996 and 1997 in Catalonia, Spain.
  
  
  METHODS
  The incidence of HIID reported passively by clinicians was compared with the cases detected by a system of microbiological surveillance. In all cases isolated, the age of the patient, the clinical form and the serotype were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-six cases were passively reported and 111 were detected by microbiological surveillance. Overall sensitivity of reporting was 59.5% (95% CI, 50.7-69.1), with differences being observed according to the variables studied. The highest values were obtained in children under 5 years (87.8%; 95% CI, 73.7-95.9), in cases with meningitis and/or sepsis (64.3%; 95% CI, 50.4-76.6) and in serotype b (73.0%; 95% CI, 60.3-83.4). In the logistical regression analysis, only age under 5 years was associated with greater reporting (OR= 9.8; 95% CI, 2.5-37.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reported morbidity in children under 5 years is a good estimate of the true incidence of HIID in Catalonia (underreporting was 12.2%), but not for those above this age in whom the underreporting was 57.2%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Social Security, Barcelona, Spain. angelad@dsss.scs.es
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Domínguez
authors.forename: Ricard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bou
authors.forename: Glòria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carmona
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Latorre
authors.forename: Valentí
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pineda
authors.forename: Ferran
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.forename: Lluís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salleras
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006192:Haemophilus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D019741:Haemophilus influenzae type b / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D016015:Logistic Models; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology