[Epidemiological characteristics of infectious diseases of group A, B and C among Chinese students' population].

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the secular trend, ranking change, age- and regional- characteristics of leading infectious diseases among Chinese students population aged 6 to 22 years from 2008 to 2017.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the national surveillance from 2008 to 2017, and the participants were students aged from 6 to 22 years who were diagnosed with notifiable infectious diseases. A total of 40 infectious diseases were classified into three groups based on national notifiable infectious diseases classification of A, B and C. The morbidity and mortality rates from infectious diseases were calculated using the numbers of students published by the ministry of education as the denominator. The age- and province-specific infectious diseases with the highest incidence were selected as the leading infectious diseases for analysis.

RESULTS

From 2008 to 2017, the incidence rate, the number of cases and the number of deaths of infectious diseases among the boys aged 6-22 years in China were higher than that of the girls, and the overall trend was downward during the study period. The incidence rates in the boys and girls decreased from 2008 to 2015 with decrease of 43.4% and 40.1%, respectively. However, by 2017, the increase rate rebounded with the increases of 47.1% and 53.8%. The rebound trend was mainly caused by the increase of group C of infectious diseases. During the past decade, the top leading three diseases of groups A and B of infectious diseases were viral hepatitis, tuberculosis and dysentery in 2018, respectively, which changed to tuberculosis, scarlet fever and viral hepatitis in 2017. The top leading three infectious diseases in terms of mortality were rabies, tuberculosis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 2008, which were transformed into HIV/AIDS, rabies, and tuberculosis in 2017. There was no significantly obvious change in the incidence and mortality order of group C of infectious diseases during the decade. In the analysis of age groups and regions, the leading infectious diseases in groups A and B transferred from viral hepatitis to scarlet fever and tuberculosis, while in group C, mumps and infectious diarrhoea almost always dominated the leading infectious diseases. But in recent years, influenza and hand-foot-and-mouth disease increased significantly in the eastern region.

CONCLUSION

During the past decade, China has got remarkable achievements in the prevention and control of children infectious disease. However, the change patterns and characteristics of notifiable infectious diseases among children and adolescents show the urgent need for prevention and control of respiratory tract infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as new emerging infectious diseases in China in the future. This study provides important basis for policy making of Chinese national school-based infectious disease prevention and control mechanism.