Aziz Mert Ipekci1, Diana Buitrago-Garcia1,2, Kaspar Walter Meili3, Fabienne Krauer4, Nirmala Prajapati5, Shabnam Thapa6, Lea Wildisen7, Lucia Araujo-Chaveron5, Lukas Baumann8, Sanam Shah5, Tessa Whiteley5, Gonzalo Solís-García9, Foteini Tsotra10, Ivan Zhelyazkov10, Hira Imeri1, Nicola Low1, Michel Jacques Counotte11. 1. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. 2. Graduate School of Health Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. 3. Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. 4. Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. 5. École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique (EHESP), Saint Denis, France. 6. Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland. 7. Institute of Primary Health Care (BIHAM), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. 8. Department of Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital Olten, Olten, Switzerland. 9. Pediatrics Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain. 10. School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. 11. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. michel.counotte@ispm.unibe.ch.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Outbreaks of infectious diseases generate outbreaks of scientific evidence. In 2016 epidemics of Zika virus emerged, and in 2020, a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We compared patterns of scientific publications for the two infections to analyse the evolution of the evidence. METHODS: We annotated publications on Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2 that we collected using living evidence databases according to study design. We used descriptive statistics to categorise and compare study designs over time. RESULTS: We found 2286 publications about Zika virus in 2016 and 21,990 about SARS-CoV-2 up to 24 May 2020, of which we analysed a random sample of 5294 (24%). For both infections, there were more epidemiological than laboratory science studies. Amongst epidemiological studies for both infections, case reports, case series and cross-sectional studies emerged first, cohort and case-control studies were published later. Trials were the last to emerge. The number of preprints was much higher for SARS-CoV-2 than for Zika virus. CONCLUSIONS: Similarities in the overall pattern of publications might be generalizable, whereas differences are compatible with differences in the characteristics of a disease. Understanding how evidence accumulates during disease outbreaks helps us understand which types of public health questions we can answer and when.
BACKGROUND: Outbreaks of infectious diseases generate outbreaks of scientific evidence. In 2016 epidemics of Zika virus emerged, and in 2020, a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We compared patterns of scientific publications for the two infections to analyse the evolution of the evidence. METHODS: We annotated publications on Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2 that we collected using living evidence databases according to study design. We used descriptive statistics to categorise and compare study designs over time. RESULTS: We found 2286 publications about Zika virus in 2016 and 21,990 about SARS-CoV-2 up to 24 May 2020, of which we analysed a random sample of 5294 (24%). For both infections, there were more epidemiological than laboratory science studies. Amongst epidemiological studies for both infections, case reports, case series and cross-sectional studies emerged first, cohort and case-control studies were published later. Trials were the last to emerge. The number of preprints was much higher for SARS-CoV-2 than for Zika virus. CONCLUSIONS: Similarities in the overall pattern of publications might be generalizable, whereas differences are compatible with differences in the characteristics of a disease. Understanding how evidence accumulates during disease outbreaks helps us understand which types of public health questions we can answer and when.
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