Understanding the risks for post-disaster infectious disease outbreaks: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

IntroductionDisasters have many forms, including those related to natural hazards and armed conflict. Human-induced global change, such as climate change, may alter hazard parameters of these disasters. These alterations can have serious consequences for vulnerable populations, which often experience post-disaster infectious disease outbreaks, leading to morbidity and mortality. The risks and drivers for these outbreaks and their ability to form cascades are somewhat contested. Despite evidence for post-disaster outbreaks, reviews quantifying them have been on short time scales, specific geographic areas or specific hazards. This review aims to fill this gap and gain a greater understanding of the risk factors involved in these contextual outbreaks on a global level.Methods and analysisUsing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols 2015 checklist and Khan’s methodological framework, a systematic search strategy will be created and carried out in August 2020. The strategy will search MEDLINE, Embase and GlobalHealth electronic databases and reference lists of selected literature will also be screened. Eligible studies will include any retrospective cross-sectional, case–control or cohort studies investigating an infectious disease outbreak in a local disaster affected population. Studies will not be excluded based on geographic area or publication date. Excluded papers will include non-English studies, reviews, single case studies and research discussing general risk factors, international refugee camps, public health, mental health and other non-communicable diseases, pathogen genetics or economics. Following selection, data will be extracted into a data charting form, that will be reviewed by other members of the team. The data will then be analysed both numerically and narratively.Ethics and disseminationOnly secondary data will be used and there will be no public or patient involvement; therefore, no ethical approval is needed. Our findings will aim to be disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal. The authors intend to use the results to inform future mathematical modelling studies.

Traits and risk factors of post-disaster infectious disease outbreaks: a systematic review

“…No temporal or geographic limits were set and no specific risk factors searched to avoid bias in the search results. Electronic database searching ceased in June 2020, so any relevant literature retrieved after this date was excluded 67 . Along with broad terms for outbreaks, specific diseases as identified by the World Health Organization 68 as common infectious disease outbreaks following disasters were also searched, along with commonly reported diseases identified from preliminary scoping searches.…”

“…Full-text or abstracts in English 67 . Exclusion criteria: • Papers without an explicit link between a disaster and an outbreak.…”

“…As data collection for systematic reviews uses exclusively secondary data, no ethical approval was needed. The full methodological protocol used in this review underwent peer review prior to commencement of this study 67 , with the key components summarised below.…”

“…No temporal or geographic limits were set and no specific risk factors searched to avoid bias in the search results. Electronic database searching ceased in June 2020, so any relevant literature retrieved after this date was excluded 67 .…”

“… Study type – Retrospective observational studies, namely, cross-sectional, case–control and cohort studies. Full-text or abstracts in English 67 . Exclusion criteria: Papers without an explicit link between a disaster and an outbreak.…”