If reporting compliance is low, what is the likely impact on the case detection system's performance?

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Multiple Choice

If reporting compliance is low, what is the likely impact on the case detection system's performance?

Explanation:
Reporting compliance determines how consistently suspected cases are documented in the surveillance system. When compliance is low, many cases aren’t reported, so the system ends up missing true cases. This lowers the system’s sensitivity—the ability to detect when cases actually occur. With fewer reported cases, you undercount the real burden and outbreak signals can be delayed or missed. Data completeness would suffer because not all cases are captured; timeliness and trend analyses could also be biased, but the core impact tied to detection is the decrease in sensitivity due to missed cases.

Reporting compliance determines how consistently suspected cases are documented in the surveillance system. When compliance is low, many cases aren’t reported, so the system ends up missing true cases. This lowers the system’s sensitivity—the ability to detect when cases actually occur. With fewer reported cases, you undercount the real burden and outbreak signals can be delayed or missed. Data completeness would suffer because not all cases are captured; timeliness and trend analyses could also be biased, but the core impact tied to detection is the decrease in sensitivity due to missed cases.

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