The Impact of Weather on Influenza-like Illness Rates in Chicago

Introduction Weather events such as a heat wave or a cold snap can cause a change to the number of patients and types of symptoms seen at a healthcare facility. Understanding the impact of weather patterns on ILI surveillance may be useful for early detection and trend analysis. In addition, weather patterns limit our ability to extrapolate data collected in one region to a different region, which may not share the same weather or periodic trends. By modeling these sources of variation, we can factor out their effects and increase the sensitivity of our overall surveillance system.