[The validation of a new population surveillance system that analyzes the daily mortality rates in Montreal].
OBJECTIVE
Since 2004, a surveillance system provides counts, almost in real time, of the number of deaths per day occurring on the Island of Montreal. The validity of this monitoring tool and its ability to detect spikes in daily deaths, such as can occur due to heat waves, have been evaluated.


METHODS
Comparison of the number of deaths per day recorded in the monitoring system with the number of deaths per day recorded in the official record of deaths in Quebec for 134 days of 2004.


RESULTS
The monitoring system is accurate (for over 73% of days, the difference in the number of deaths between the two files falls within a range of +/-3 deaths given an average of 43 deaths per day). The system identifies more than 80% of all deaths and is efficient in identifying days with excess deaths that are 20% above the average.


CONCLUSIONS
This novel monitoring system, based on data used mainly for management of medical services, meets contemporary public health requirements in terms of early detection of unusual health events.
Direction de santé publique de l'Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal (DSP Montréal), Montréal, QC, Canada. ftessier@santepub-mtl.qc.ca
François
F
Tessier
Céline
C
Plante
Tom
T
Kosatsky
D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D011792:Quebec; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors