Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts

Dynamic transmission models of influenza are sometimes used in decision-making to identify which vaccination strategies might best reduce influenza-associated health burdens. Our goal was to use laboratory confirmed influenza cases to fit model parameters in an age-structured, two-type (influenza A/...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Michael A. Andrews, Chris T. Bauch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIMS Press 2019-04-01
Series:Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.aimspress.com/article/10.3934/mbe.2019186?viewType=HTML
_version_ 1818288393795141632
author Michael A. Andrews
Chris T. Bauch
author_facet Michael A. Andrews
Chris T. Bauch
author_sort Michael A. Andrews
collection DOAJ
description Dynamic transmission models of influenza are sometimes used in decision-making to identify which vaccination strategies might best reduce influenza-associated health burdens. Our goal was to use laboratory confirmed influenza cases to fit model parameters in an age-structured, two-type (influenza A/B) dynamic model of influenza. We compared the fitted model under two fitting methodologies: using longitudinal weekly case notification data versus using cross-sectional age-stratified cumulative case notification data. The longitudinal data came from a Canadian province (Ontario) whereas the cross-sectional data came from the national level (all of Canada). We find that the longitudinal fitting method provides best fitting parameter sets that have a higher variance between the respective parameters in each set than the cross-sectional cumulative case method. Model predictions--particularly for influenza A--are very different for the two fitting methodologies under hypothetical vaccination scenarios that expand coverage in either younger age classes or older age classes: the cross-sectional method predicts much larger decreases in total cases under expanded vaccine coverage than the longitudinal method. Also, the longitudinal method predicts that vaccinating younger age groups yields greater declines in total cases than vaccinating older age groups, whereas the cross-sectional method predicts the opposite. We conclude that model predictions of vaccination impacts under different strategies may differ at national versus provincial levels. Finally, we discuss whether using longitudinal versus cross-sectional data in model fitting may generate further differences in model predictions (above and beyond population-specific differences) and how such a hypothesis could be tested in future studies.
first_indexed 2024-12-13T01:55:40Z
format Article
id doaj.art-9e4a3e7ebe284e618a097279644f1532
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1551-0018
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-13T01:55:40Z
publishDate 2019-04-01
publisher AIMS Press
record_format Article
series Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering
spelling doaj.art-9e4a3e7ebe284e618a097279644f15322022-12-22T00:03:24ZengAIMS PressMathematical Biosciences and Engineering1551-00182019-04-011653753377010.3934/mbe.2019186Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impactsMichael A. Andrews0Chris T. Bauch11. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd. E. Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W12. Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. W. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1Dynamic transmission models of influenza are sometimes used in decision-making to identify which vaccination strategies might best reduce influenza-associated health burdens. Our goal was to use laboratory confirmed influenza cases to fit model parameters in an age-structured, two-type (influenza A/B) dynamic model of influenza. We compared the fitted model under two fitting methodologies: using longitudinal weekly case notification data versus using cross-sectional age-stratified cumulative case notification data. The longitudinal data came from a Canadian province (Ontario) whereas the cross-sectional data came from the national level (all of Canada). We find that the longitudinal fitting method provides best fitting parameter sets that have a higher variance between the respective parameters in each set than the cross-sectional cumulative case method. Model predictions--particularly for influenza A--are very different for the two fitting methodologies under hypothetical vaccination scenarios that expand coverage in either younger age classes or older age classes: the cross-sectional method predicts much larger decreases in total cases under expanded vaccine coverage than the longitudinal method. Also, the longitudinal method predicts that vaccinating younger age groups yields greater declines in total cases than vaccinating older age groups, whereas the cross-sectional method predicts the opposite. We conclude that model predictions of vaccination impacts under different strategies may differ at national versus provincial levels. Finally, we discuss whether using longitudinal versus cross-sectional data in model fitting may generate further differences in model predictions (above and beyond population-specific differences) and how such a hypothesis could be tested in future studies.https://www.aimspress.com/article/10.3934/mbe.2019186?viewType=HTMLepidemic modellinginfluenzavaccinationparameter estimation
spellingShingle Michael A. Andrews
Chris T. Bauch
Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts
Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering
epidemic modelling
influenza
vaccination
parameter estimation
title Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts
title_full Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts
title_fullStr Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts
title_full_unstemmed Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts
title_short Parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age-stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts
title_sort parameterizing a dynamic influenza model using longitudinal versus age stratified case notifications yields different predictions of vaccine impacts
topic epidemic modelling
influenza
vaccination
parameter estimation
url https://www.aimspress.com/article/10.3934/mbe.2019186?viewType=HTML
work_keys_str_mv AT michaelaandrews parameterizingadynamicinfluenzamodelusinglongitudinalversusagestratifiedcasenotificationsyieldsdifferentpredictionsofvaccineimpacts
AT christbauch parameterizingadynamicinfluenzamodelusinglongitudinalversusagestratifiedcasenotificationsyieldsdifferentpredictionsofvaccineimpacts