title: Relevance of workplace social mixing during influenza pandemics: an experimental modelling study of workplace cultures.
abstract: Workplaces are one of the most important regular meeting places in society. The aim of this study was to use simulation experiments to examine the impact of different workplace cultures on influenza dissemination during pandemics. The impact is investigated by experiments with defined social-mixing patterns at workplaces using semi-virtual models based on authentic sociodemographic and geographical data from a North European community (population 136 000). A simulated pandemic outbreak was found to affect 33% of the total population in the community with the reference academic-creative workplace culture; virus transmission at the workplace accounted for 10·6% of the cases. A model with a prevailing industrial-administrative workplace culture generated 11% lower incidence than the reference model, while the model with a self-employed workplace culture (also corresponding to a hypothetical scenario with all workplaces closed) produced 20% fewer cases. The model representing an academic-creative workplace culture with restricted workplace interaction generated 12% lower cumulative incidence compared to the reference model. The results display important theoretical associations between workplace social-mixing cultures and community-level incidence rates during influenza pandemics. Social interaction patterns at workplaces should be taken into consideration when analysing virus transmission patterns during influenza pandemics.
authors: Department of Medical and Health Sciences,Linköping University,Linköping,Sweden.
authors: T
authors: 0000-0001-6049-5402
authors: T
authors: Timpka
authors: Department of Computer and Information Science,Linköping University,Linköping,Sweden.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Eriksson
authors: Department of Geography and Economic History,Umeå University,Umeå,Sweden.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Holm
authors: Department of Geography and Economic History,Umeå University,Umeå,Sweden.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Strömgren
authors: Department of Medical and Health Sciences,Linköping University,Linköping,Sweden.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Ekberg
authors: Department of Medical and Health Sciences,Linköping University,Linköping,Sweden.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Spreco
authors: Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning,Linköping University,Linköping,Sweden.
authors: Ö
authors: Ö
authors: Dahlström
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D017132:Workplace; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Epidemiology; infectious disease control; influenza; medical informatics (veterinary and medical); modelling