Table 2.

Summary of output files and built-in feature recommendations for cluster interpretation when using SaTScan to detect reportable communicable disease outbreaks.

Section and subtopic			Recommendations
Output files and built-in features
	Text-based results file	1. Review information about the detected clusters and the analysis performed.
	Line list of cluster events	2. Review line list of events in clusters exceeding the RIa signaling threshold. 3. Distinguish events that are newly added to ongoing clusters by using an events cache input file. 4. Inspect the line list for data quality problems that may have been missed by other routine checks, such as duplicated events in the case file, misreported patient addresses, or addresses unrelated to possible exposure sites. 5. Inspect the line list to determine whether the cluster affects multiple households and suggests community transmission vs primarily affects persons in the same household or building.
	Map	6. Visualize the spatial extent of clusters. 7. Observe patterns of event locations and group by any chosen variable included in the case file.
	Temporal graphs	8. Visualize observed and expected event counts inside and outside the geographical cluster area, marking the period before and during the cluster.
	Drilldown analysis	9. Conduct a drilldown analysis if you wish to determine whether events in a cluster are randomly distributed within that cluster. 10. In parallel, consider rerunning the analysis applying a maximum reported spatial cluster size as both approaches may detect significant clusters within larger clusters.

^aRI: recurrence interval.