Burden of seasonal influenza in sub- Saharan Africa : a systematic review protocol
Date
2018-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Abstract
Introduction Measures of epidemiological burdens are
an important contribution to estimating disease severity
and determining the at-risk populations for seasonal
influenza. In the absence of these data, it is extremely
difficult for policy-makers to decide on how to distribute
limited resources. This systematic review will synthesise
the literature on reported burden of seasonal influenza (eg,
morbidity and mortality) in sub-Saharan Africa.
Method and analysis We will include published
epidemiological studies that capture the burden estimation
of seasonal influenza between 1 January 2000 and
31 August 2018. Studies that have reported disease
burden estimates associated to influenza-like illness,
acute respiratory illness, acute lower respiratory illness,
severe acute respiratory illness and severe or very severe
pneumonia using laboratory-confirmed influenza cases will
be included. We will perform a multiple electronic database
search in PubMed, Embase, African Journals Online,
Cochrane, Web of science, CINAHL and Google scholar for
eligible studies. The reference lists of relevant studies will
also be hand-searched for potentially eligible studies. The
titles and abstracts of identified records will be screened
independently by two authors. The full-text articles of
potentially eligible studies will be assessed independently
by two authors. Discrepancies will be resolved by
discussion, and by a third author if the first two authors
fail to come to a consensus. The measures of the burden
of influenza will be aggregated using a meta-analysis
for homogeneous studies and narrative synthesis if the
studies are heterogeneous. The strength of the evidence
will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations
Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.
Description
CITATION: Sambala, E.Z. et al. 2018. Burden of seasonal influenza in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review protocol. BMJ Open, 8(10):e022949, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022949.
The original publication is available at https://bmjopen.bmj.com/
The original publication is available at https://bmjopen.bmj.com/
Keywords
Seasonal influenza, Influenza, sub-Saharan Africa, Respiratory infection -- Respiratory infection, Secondary infections, Pneumonia, Acute lower respiratory infection -- ALRI
Citation
Sambala, E.Z. et al. 2018. Burden of seasonal influenza in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review protocol. BMJ Open, 8(10):e022949, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022949.