BACKGROUND: The estimation of incidence rates of @entity166 based on the sentinel surveillance data is rather rare. We attempted to estimate these in 2000 in Japan by the surveillance data, and to evaluate their biases. METHODS: We used the incidences of @entity66 in each of the sentinel medical institutions in Japan based on surveillance data in 2000. The incidence in all medical institutions was estimated under the assumption that the sentinel medical institutions were randomly selected. The possible bias of this estimate was evaluated in comparison with the hypothetical true incidence obtained as the total incidence in all medical institutions estimated by a regression model using the numbers of all disease outpatients per day from the National Survey of Medical Care Institutions of Japan. RESULTS: The estimated annual incidence rate was 75.6 (95% confidence interval: 72.3-78.7) @entity307 ,000 population in @entity683 , and ranged from 1.1 (95% confidence interval: 1.0-1.2) to 285.2 (95% confidence interval: 270.2-300.3) @entity307 ,000 population aged 0-19 years among 12 @entity66 . The ratio of the estimated incidence to the hypothetical true one was 1.06-1.26 among @entity66 . CONCLUSIONS: The incidence rates of @entity683 and @entity66 in 2000 in Japan were estimated from sentinel surveillance data. The rates obtained provide some useful but not always accurate information. Thus, further research is necessary.

Annual incidence rate of XXXX estimated from sentinel surveillance data in Japan.

@entity683 :: ('MESH:D007251', 'Disease') :: ['influenza-like illness'] @entity166 :: ('MESH:D003141', 'Disease') :: ['infectious diseases'] @entity66 :: ('MESH:D004194', 'Disease') :: ['influenza-like illness and the 12 pediatric diseases', 'influenza-like illness and 12 pediatric diseases', 'pediatric diseases'] @entity307 :: ('5187', 'Gene') :: ['per 1']
@entity166 :: (MESH:D003141,Disease) :: ['infectious diseases']
