Optimizing Dengue Surveillance Thresholds in Malaysia: A Comparative Evaluation of Endemic Channel Approaches

Endemic channels are widely used in dengue surveillance to detect unusual increases in case counts. However, conventional approaches that rely on historical averages with fixed standard deviation (SD)-based multipliers may produce unstable thresholds and false alerts. This study compared a conventional SD-based endemic channel with a log-scale SD-based endemic channel incorporating an enhanced alert rule to identify the optimal approach for routine dengue surveillance in Malaysia. Weekly national dengue case data from 2014 to 2024 were analyzed. A rolling validation approach was used to evaluate outbreak detection performance from 2017 to 2023 using three-year historical baselines. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy, and the Youden Index were calculated and pooled across the validation years. The optimal multiplier was selected based on the highest pooled Youden Index using the rolling validation period (2017–2023). The selected approach was then applied independently to the 2024 surveillance data as an operational demonstration of its potential use in routine dengue surveillance. A total of 260 epidemiological weeks were analyzed, of which 42 (16.2%) were classified as outbreak weeks. The log-scale SD-based endemic channel incorporating an enhanced alert rule achieved the highest pooled Youden Index of 0.43 at the optimal multiplier of 0.50. At this multiplier, sensitivity was 0.60, specificity 0.82, positive predictive value 0.35, negative predictive value 0.93, and overall accuracy 0.79. Compared with the conventional SD-based endemic channel at its optimal multiplier (1.00), the proposed approach demonstrated improved sensitivity (0.60 vs. 0.56), specificity (0.82 vs. 0.70), positive predictive value (0.35 vs. 0.23), negative predictive value (0.93 vs. 0.91), accuracy (0.79 vs. 0.68), and Youden Index (0.43 vs. 0.26). The log-scale SD-based endemic channel incorporating an enhanced alert rule demonstrated superior overall outbreak detection performance and was selected as the optimal approach for routine dengue surveillance.