Using Over-the-Counter Retail Medication Sales to Detect and Track Influenza-Like Illnesses Including Novel Diseases: Surveillance Modeling Study

Background

Traditional disease surveillance systems often rely on clinical or laboratory-confirmed data, which may delay detection of emerging outbreaks. The National Retail Data Monitor (NRDM), established in 2002, collects anonymized over-the-counter (OTC) health product sales data from more than 28,000 retail outlets across the United States and provides a complementary data source for syndromic surveillance.

Objective

This study evaluated the use of NRDM data for detecting and tracking influenza-like illness (ILI), including purchasing patterns suggestive of novel disease outbreaks.

Methods