OBJECTIVETo analyze the implement performance of China Infectious Diseases Automated-alert and Response System (CIDARS) of 31 provinces in mainland China, and to provide the evidences for further promoting the application and improvement of this system.

METHODSThe amount of signals, response situation and verification outcome of signals related to 32 infectious diseases of 31 provinces in mainland China in CIDARS were investigated from 2011 to 2013, the changes by year on the proportion of responded signals and timeliness of signal response were descriptively analyzed.

RESULTSA total of 960 831 signals were generated nationwide on 32 kinds of infectious diseases in the system, with 98.87% signals (949 936) being responded, and the median (the 25(th) percentile to the 75(th) percentile (P25-P75) ) of time to response was 1.0 (0.4-3.3) h. Among all the signals, 242 355 signals were generated by the fixed-value detection method, the proportion of responded signals was 96.37% (62 349/64 703), 98.75% (68 413/69 282) and 99.37% (107 690/108 370), respectively, and the median (P25-P75) of time to response was 1.3 (0.3-9.7), 0.8(0.2-4.9) and 0.7 (0.2-4.2) h, respectively. After the preliminary data verification, field investigation and laboratory test by local public health staffs, 100 232 cases (41.36%) were finally confirmed.In addition, 718 476 signals were generated by the temporal aberration detection methods, and the average amount of signal per county per week throughout the country were 1.53, and 8 155 signals (1.14%) were verified as suspected outbreaks. During these 3 years, the proportion of signal response was 98.89% (231 149/233 746), 98.90% (254 182/257 015) and 99.31% (226 153/227 715), respectively, and the median (P25-P75) of time to response was 1.1 (0.5-3.3), 1.0 (0.5-2.9) and 1.0 (0.5-2.6) h, respectively.

CONCLUSIONFrom 2011 to 2013, the proportion of responded signals and response timeliness of CIDARS maintained a rather high level, and further presented an increasing trend year by year. But the proportion of signals related to suspected outbreaks should be improved.

China ; Communicable Diseases ; Disease Notification ; Disease Outbreaks ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Population Surveillance ; methods