Portrait of David Buckeridge

David Buckeridge

Associate Academic Member

Full Professor, McGill University, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health

Research Topics

Medical Machine Learning

Biography

David Buckeridge is a professor at the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University, as well as chief digital health officer for the McGill University Health Centre and executive scientific director of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

A Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Health Informatics and Data Science, Buckeridge has projected health system demand for the Canadian province of Quebec, led data management and analytics for the Canadian Immunity Task Force, and supported the World Health Organization in monitoring global immunity to SARS-CoV-2. He has an MD from Queen's University, an MSc in epidemiology from the University of Toronto and a PhD in biomedical informatics from Stanford University. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.

Current Students

Master's Research - McGill University

Master's Research - McGill University

PhD - McGill University

Master's Research - McGill University

Master's Research - McGill University

Master's Research - McGill University

Publications

Global variation in event-based surveillance for disease outbreak detection: A time series analysis (Preprint)

Iris Ganser

R. Thiébaut

David Buckeridge

BACKGROUND Robust and flexible infectious disease surveillance is crucial for public health. Event-based surveillance (EBS) was developed t… (see more)o allow timely detection of infectious disease outbreaks using mostly web-based data. Despite its widespread use, EBS has not been evaluated systematically on a global scale in terms of outbreak detection performance. OBJECTIVE To assess the variation in timing and frequency of EBS reports compared to true outbreaks and to identify the determinants of variability, using the example of seasonal influenza epidemics in 24 countries. METHODS We obtained influenza-related reports from two EBS systems, HealthMap and the WHO Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS), and weekly virologic influenza counts from FluNet as a gold standard. Epidemic influenza periods were detected based on report frequency using Bayesian change point analysis. Timely sensitivity, i.e., outbreak detection within the first two weeks before or after an outbreak onset, was calculated along with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and timeliness of detection. Linear regressions were performed to assess the influence of country-specific factors on EBS performance. RESULTS Overall, monitoring the frequency of EBS reports detected 73.5% of outbreaks, but only 9.2% within two weeks of onset; in the best case, monitoring the frequency of health-related reports identified 29% of outbreaks within two weeks of onset. We observed a large degree of variability in all evaluation metrics across countries. The number of EBS reports available within a country, the human development index, and the country’s geographical location partially explained this variability. CONCLUSIONS Monitoring the frequency of EBS reports allowed just under 10% of seasonal influenza outbreaks to be detected in a timely manner in a worldwide analysis, with a large variability in detection capabilities. This article documents the global variation of EBS performance and demonstrates that monitoring report frequency alone in EBS may be insufficient for timely detection of outbreaks. Moreover, factors such as human development index and geographical location of a country may influence the performance of EBS and should be considered in future evaluations.

2022-01-05

(published)

Global Variations in Event-Based Surveillance for Disease Outbreak Detection: Time Series Analysis

Iris Ganser

Rodolphe Thiébaut

David Buckeridge

2022-01-05

JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (published)

Global Variations in Event-Based Surveillance for Disease Outbreak Detection: Time Series Analysis

Iris Ganser

R. Thiébaut

David Buckeridge

Background Robust and flexible infectious disease surveillance is crucial for public health. Event-based surveillance (EBS) was developed to… (see more) allow timely detection of infectious disease outbreaks by using mostly web-based data. Despite its widespread use, EBS has not been evaluated systematically on a global scale in terms of outbreak detection performance. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the variation in the timing and frequency of EBS reports compared to true outbreaks and to identify the determinants of variability by using the example of seasonal influenza epidemic in 24 countries. Methods We obtained influenza-related reports between January 2013 and December 2019 from 2 EBS systems, that is, HealthMap and the World Health Organization Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS), and weekly virological influenza counts for the same period from FluNet as the gold standard. Influenza epidemic periods were detected based on report frequency by using Bayesian change point analysis. Timely sensitivity, that is, outbreak detection within the first 2 weeks before or after an outbreak onset was calculated along with sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and timeliness of detection. Linear regressions were performed to assess the influence of country-specific factors on EBS performance. Results Overall, while monitoring the frequency of EBS reports over 7 years in 24 countries, we detected 175 out of 238 outbreaks (73.5%) but only 22 out of 238 (9.2%) within 2 weeks before or after an outbreak onset; in the best case, while monitoring the frequency of health-related reports, we identified 2 out of 6 outbreaks (33%) within 2 weeks of onset. The positive predictive value varied between 9% and 100% for HealthMap and from 0 to 100% for EIOS, and timeliness of detection ranged from 13% to 94% for HealthMap and from 0% to 92% for EIOS, whereas system specificity was generally high (59%-100%). The number of EBS reports available within a country, the human development index, and the country’s geographical location partially explained the high variability in system performance across countries. Conclusions We documented the global variation of EBS performance and demonstrated that monitoring the report frequency alone in EBS may be insufficient for the timely detection of outbreaks. In particular, in low- and middle-income countries, low data quality and report frequency impair the sensitivity and timeliness of disease surveillance through EBS. Therefore, advances in the development and evaluation and EBS are needed, particularly in low-resource settings.

2022-01-05

JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (published)

Usefulness of School Absenteeism Data for Predicting Inﬂ uenza Outbreaks,

Joseph R. Egger

A. Hoen

John S. Brownstein

David Buckeridge

Donald R. Olson

Kevin James Konty

and second-round PCR were 94°C for 3 min, followed by 40 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 55°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 2 min. Expected amplifi ca… (see more)tion products were 458 bp (PCR-1) and 304 bp (PCR-2). Using dilutions of a synthetic template corresponding to the target sequence, we estimated the sensitivity of the amplifi cation assay to be 5 copies of target sequence by limiting-dilution assay. Negative (sterile water) and positive controls (synthetic template dilutions) were

2022-01-01

(published)

www.semanticscholar.org

COVID-19 Seroprevalence in Canada Modelling Waning and Boosting COVID-19 Immunity in Canada a Canadian Immunization Research Network Study

David W. Dick

Lauren Childs

Zhilan Feng

Jing Li

Gergely Röst

David Buckeridge

Nick H. Ogden

Jane Heffernan

2021-12-23

Vaccines (published)

Fall 2021 Resurgence and COVID-19 Seroprevalence in Canada: Modelling waning and boosting COVID-19 immunity in Canada, A Canadian Immunization Research Network Study

David W. Dick

Lauren Childs

Zhilan Feng

Jing Li

Gergely Röst

David Buckeridge

Nick H. Ogden

Jane Heffernan

2021-12-23

Vaccines (published)

Global epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis of standardized population-based seroprevalence studies, Jan 2020-Oct 2021

Isabel Bergeri

Mairead Whelan

Harriet Ware

Lorenzo Subissi

Anthony Nardone

H. Lewis

Zihan Li

Xiaomeng Ma

Marta Valenciano

Brianna Cheng

Lubna Al Ariqi

Arash Rashidian

Joseph Okeibunor

Tasnim Azim

Pushpa Wijesinghe

Linh-Vi Le

Aisling Vaughan

Richard Pebody

Andrea Vicari

Tingting Yan … (see 8 more)

Mercedes Yanes-Lane

Christian Cao

Matthew P. Cheng

Jesse Papenburg

David Buckeridge

Niklas Bobrovitz

Rahul K. Arora

Maria D Van Kerkhove

Background COVID-19 case data underestimates infection and immunity, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We meta-analyze… (see more)d standardized SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies to estimate global seroprevalence. Objectives/Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis, searching MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, preprints, and grey literature for SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies aligned with the WHO UNITY protocol published between 2020-01-01 and 2021-10-29. Eligible studies were extracted and critically appraised in duplicate. We meta-analyzed seroprevalence by country and month, pooling to estimate regional and global seroprevalence over time; compared seroprevalence from infection to confirmed cases to estimate under-ascertainment; meta-analyzed differences in seroprevalence between demographic subgroups; and identified national factors associated with seroprevalence using meta-regression. PROSPERO: CRD42020183634. Results We identified 396 full texts reporting 736 distinct seroprevalence studies (41% LMIC), including 355 low/moderate risk of bias studies with national/sub-national scope in further analysis. By April 2021, global SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was 26.1%, 95% CI [24.6-27.6%]. Seroprevalence rose steeply in the first half of 2021 due to infection in some regions (e.g., 18.2% to 45.9% in Africa) and vaccination and infection in others (e.g., 11.3% to 57.4% in the Americas high-income countries), but remained low in others (e.g., 0.3% to 1.6% in the Western Pacific). In 2021 Q1, median seroprevalence to case ratios were 1.9:1 in HICs and 61.9:1 in LMICs. Children 0-9 years and adults 60+ were at lower risk of seropositivity than adults 20-29. In a multivariate model using data pre-vaccination, more stringent public health and social measures were associated with lower seroprevalence. Conclusions Global seroprevalence has risen considerably over time and with regional variation, however much of the global population remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. True infections far exceed reported COVID-19 cases. Standardized seroprevalence studies are essential to inform COVID-19 control measures, particularly in resource-limited regions.

2021-12-15

medRxiv (preprint)

Mortality trends and lengths of stay among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Ontario and Quebec (Canada): a population-based cohort study of the first three epidemic waves

Yiqing Xia

Huiting Ma

David Buckeridge

Marc Brisson

Beate Sander

Adrienne K. Chan

Aman D Verma

Iris Ganser

Nadine Kronfli

Sharmistha Mishra

Mathieu Maheu-Giroux

Background: Epidemic waves of COVID-19 strained hospital resources. We describe temporal trends in mortality risk and length of stay in inte… (see more)nsive cares units (ICUs) among COVID-19 patients hospitalized through the first three epidemic waves in Canada. Methods: We used population-based provincial hospitalization data from Ontario and Qu&eacutebec to examine mortality risk and lengths of ICU stay. For each province, adjusted estimates were obtained using marginal standardization of logistic regression models, adjusting for patient-level characteristics and hospital-level determinants. Results: Using all hospitalizations from Ontario (N=26,541) and Qu&eacutebec (N=23,857), we found that unadjusted in-hospital mortality risks peaked at 31% in the first wave and was lowest at the end of the third wave at 6-7%. This general trend remained after controlling for confounders. The odds of in-hospital mortality in the highest hospital occupancy quintile was 1.2 (95%CI: 1.0-1.4; Ontario) and 1.6 (95%CI: 1.3-1.9; Qu&eacutebec) times that of the lowest quintile. Variants of concerns were associated with an increased in-hospital mortality. Length of ICU stay decreased over time from a mean of 16 days (SD=18) to 15 days (SD=15) in the third wave but were consistently higher in Ontario than Qu&eacutebec by 3-6 days. Conclusion: In-hospital mortality risks and lengths of ICU stay declined over time in both provinces, despite changing patient demographics, suggesting that new therapeutics and treatment, as well as improved clinical protocols, could have contributed to this reduction. Continuous population-based monitoring of patient outcomes in an evolving epidemic is necessary for health system preparedness and response.

2021-12-08

medRxiv (preprint)

Opioid prescribing among new users for non-cancer pain in the USA, Canada, UK, and Taiwan: A population-based cohort study

Meghna Jani

Nadyne Girard

David W. Bates

David Buckeridge

Therese Sheppard

Jack Li

Usman Iqbal

Shelly Vik

Colin Weaver

Judy Seidel

William G. Dixon

Robyn Tamblyn

Background The opioid epidemic in North America has been driven by an increase in the use and potency of prescription opioids, with ensuing … (see more)excessive opioid-related deaths. Internationally, there are lower rates of opioid-related mortality, possibly because of differences in prescribing and health system policies. Our aim was to compare opioid prescribing rates in patients without cancer, across 5 centers in 4 countries. In addition, we evaluated differences in the type, strength, and starting dose of medication and whether these characteristics changed over time. Methods and findings We conducted a retrospective multicenter cohort study of adults who are new users of opioids without prior cancer. Electronic health records and administrative health records from Boston (United States), Quebec and Alberta (Canada), United Kingdom, and Taiwan were used to identify patients between 2006 and 2015. Standard dosages in morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) were calculated according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Age- and sex-standardized opioid prescribing rates were calculated for each jurisdiction. Of the 2,542,890 patients included, 44,690 were from Boston (US), 1,420,136 Alberta, 26,871 Quebec (Canada), 1,012,939 UK, and 38,254 Taiwan. The highest standardized opioid prescribing rates in 2014 were observed in Alberta at 66/1,000 persons compared to 52, 51, and 18/1,000 in the UK, US, and Quebec, respectively. The median MME/day (IQR) at initiation was highest in Boston at 38 (20 to 45); followed by Quebec, 27 (18 to 43); Alberta, 23 (9 to 38); UK, 12 (7 to 20); and Taiwan, 8 (4 to 11). Oxycodone was the first prescribed opioid in 65% of patients in the US cohort compared to 14% in Quebec, 4% in Alberta, 0.1% in the UK, and none in Taiwan. One of the limitations was that data were not available from all centers for the entirety of the 10-year period. Conclusions In this study, we observed substantial differences in opioid prescribing practices for non-cancer pain between jurisdictions. The preference to start patients on higher MME/day and more potent opioids in North America may be a contributing cause to the opioid epidemic.

2021-11-01

PLoS Medicine (published)

Evaluating Montréal’s harm reduction interventions for people who inject drugs: protocol for observational study and cost-effectiveness analysis

Dimitra Panagiotoglou

Michal Abrahamowicz

David Buckeridge

J Jaime Caro

Eric Latimer

Mathieu Maheu-Giroux

Erin C Strumpf

2021-10-26

BMJ Open (published)

Stringency of containment and closures on the growth of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada prior to accelerated vaccine roll-out

D. Vickers

S. Baral

Sharmistha Mishra

J. Kwong

M. Sundaram

Alan W. Katz

Andrew J. Calzavara

Mathieu Maheu-Giroux

David Buckeridge

Tyler Williamson

2021-10-21

International Journal of Infectious Diseases (published)

Evaluation of real-life use of Point-Of-Care Rapid Antigen TEsting for SARS-CoV-2 in schools for outbreak control (EPOCRATES)

A. Blanchard

Marc Desforges

A. Labbé

C. Nguyen

Y. Petit

Derek Besner

Kate A. Zinszer

Olivier Séguin

Zineb Laghdir

K. Adams

Marie-ève Benoit

Ghislain Leduc

Jean Longtin

Ioannis. Ragoussis

David Buckeridge

Caroline Quach

We evaluated the use of rapid antigen detection tests (RADT) for the diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-… (see more)2) infection in school settings to determine RADT performance characteristics compared to PCR. Methods: We did a real-world, prospective observational cohort study where recruited high-school students and staff from two high-schools in Montreal (Canada) were followed from January 25th to June 10th, 2021. Twenty-five percent of asymptomatic participants were tested weekly by RADT (nasal) and PCR (gargle). Class contacts of a case were tested. Symptomatic participants were tested by RADT (nasal) and PCR (nasal and gargle). The number of cases/outbreak and number of outbreaks were compared to other high schools in the same area. Results: Overall, 2,099 students and 286 school staff members consented to participate. The overall RADT specificity varied from 99.8 to 100%, with a lower sensitivity, varying from 28.6% in asymptomatic to 83.3% in symptomatic participants. The number of outbreaks was not different in the 2 participating schools compared to other high schools in the same area, but included a greater proportion of asymptomatic cases. Returning students to school after a 7-day quarantine, with a negative PCR on D6-7 after exposure, did not lead to subsequent outbreaks, as shown by serial testing. Of cases for whom the source was known, 37 of 57 (72.5%) were secondary to household transmission, 13 (25%) to intra-school transmission and one to community contacts between students in the same school. Conclusion: RADT did not perform well as a screening tool in asymptomatic individuals. Reinforcing policies for symptom screening when entering schools and testing symptomatic individuals with RADT on the spot may avoid subsequent significant exposures in class.

2021-10-14

medRxiv (preprint)