Epidemiological Surveillance System on Foodborne Diseases in Brazil after 10-Years of Its Implementation: Completeness Evaluation

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the data quality of the Brazilian Epidemiological Surveillance System on Foodborne Diseases (VE-DTA) through the evaluation of the completeness of the record after 10-years of its implementation. The study evaluated the measurement of completeness by quantifying ignored, incomplete or blank responses of the data items filled. The evaluation used the percentage of completion of these items regarding the total number of notifications registered in the system. We organized the results according to the general Category of completeness of the database, by year of notification and region of occurrence. We also evaluated the overall completeness percentages of the database and the completeness levels according to the degree of recommendation of completion of each variable (mandatory, essential, and complementary) by the VE-DTA manual. The system presented 7037 outbreaks of foodborne diseases. According to the completeness classification, the database presented general classification as Category 1 since it has 82.1% (n = 5.777) of variables with the level of completion up to 75.1%. We observed that 8.6% of the database was classified as category 2; 9.2% as category 3 and 0.1% as category 4. The improvement on database quality regarding completeness can positively impact on public health and public policies, reducing the number of FBDs deaths.

Brazilian Foodborne Disease National Survey: Evaluating the Landscape after 11 Years of Implementation to Advance Research, Policy, and Practice in Public Health

“…This can be justified by the greater population density of these regions, corresponding with the higher number of reports of FBD [14]. It is also important to mention that in the Southeast region, the VE-DTA system presents the highest level of completeness when compared to other Brazilian regions[12]. Also, we observed that most outbreak reports were for those that occurred in urban areas (83.1%) compared to rural and peripheral areas.…”

“…Regarding the average time taken for investigation of the outbreaks, there was a decreasing trend after 2008 and 2009. We can justify this trend since the VE-DTA system started in 2007 and the following two years were probably years of adaptation, [12]. Thus, we observed that there was an improvement in the mean time taken for investigation over the 11 years [5].…”

“…The data from Canada and Europe refer to a one year period of investigation, whereas in Brazil from 2007 to 2017, 134,046 cases of foodborne disease were registered, this being an extremely low number for an 11-year period. It is possible that the result found was due to the low level of completeness of the Brazilian National Epidemiological Surveillance System of Foodborne Diseases (VE-DTA), as discussed in a previous study [12].…”

Food Safety Conditions in Home-Kitchens: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Federal District/Brazil

“…According to the Brazilian National System of Epidemiological Surveillance of FBD, in the Brazilian Midwest region (location of the Federal District), 55% of the FBD outbreaks occurred from home food ingestion [11,25]. The high number of FBD notifications at home evidences the need to evaluate good food preparation practices in these places, to improve food-handling practices, and to reduce cases of FBDs in the domestic environment [18].…”

“…Consumers/food handlers do not see themselves or a family member as a contamination source or as susceptible to the risk of FBD [9]. These facts contribute to the absence of direction in educational campaigns and training for the public [4,10,11].…”