Cases diagnosis of imported malaria in Jiangsu province, 2014-2016 / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To understand the situation related to health seeking and diagnosis of imported malaria and to provide practical measures for malaria elimination in Jiangsu province. Methods: Data on imported malaria cases in Jiangsu province was retrieved in CISDCP from 2014 to 2016. Relevant information on health seeking behavior, diagnosis and treatment of the disease was gathered. Results: A total of 1 068 imported cases were reported in Jiangsu province from 2014 to 2016. Except for one malaria case that was caused by blood transfusion, the rest patients were all recognized as 'imported'. Majority of the cases were migrant laborers working in African countries. The accurate rates on the diagnosis of ovale, vivax and quartan malaria and mixed infection were relatively low, as 79.3% (107/135), 29.5% (18/61), 52.9% (18/34) and 0.0% (0/2) at the primary health care settings, respectively. Rate of seeking health care on the same day of onset was more in 2015 than in 2014 and 2016 (χ(2)=18.6, P=0.001). While only 65.4% (699/1 068) of the patients were diagnosed correctly at the primary health care settings. There appeared no statistical difference in the 3-year-study period (χ(2)=5.4, P=0.246). Capacity on 'correct diagnosis' seemed stronger at the CDC than at the hospital levels (χ(2)=13.2, P=0.000; χ(2)=5.4, P=0.020). Totally, 72.7% (32/44) of the severe falciparum malaria cases did not immediately seek for health care when the symptoms started. Conclusions: Migrant workers returning from the high endemic malaria areas seemed to have poor awareness in seeking health care services. Capability on correct diagnosis for malaria at the primary health care settings remained unsatisfactory and staff from these settings needs to receive adequate training.

A Meta-analysis on the relations between short-term exposure to PM(2.5) and both mortality and related emergency visits in China / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To carry out a quantitative estimate that related to the effects of short-term exposure to PM(2.5) on all-cause mortality and emergency visits in China by using the systematic review and Meta-analysis. Methods: We selected all the studies published before March 2018 from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, PubMed and EMBASE and data on relative risk (RR), excess risk (ER) and their 95%CIs: appeared in these papers were extracted. According to the differences in the size or direction (heterogeneity) of the results, we computed summary estimates of the effect values using a random-effect or fixed effect model. We also conducted the subgroup analysis and Meta-analysis to have assessed the selected studies for the evidence of study bias. Results: A total of 33 original studies, indexed in databases, were identified. Among those studies, 39 sets of data on mortality and 4 sets of data on emergency were valid to show that within the daily concentration range from 47.7 to 176.7 μg/m(3), for 10 μg/m(3) increases in PM(2.5) concentrations, it would increase the daily numbers of deaths by 0.49% (95%CI: 0.39%-0.59%) and 0.30% (95%CI: 0.10%-0.51%) for all-cause deaths and all-cause emergency-room visits, respectively. For subgroup analysis, the combined effect of PM(2.5) in causing short-term all-cause deaths in the northern areas (ER=0.42%, 95%CI: 0.30%-0.54%) seemed lower than that in the southern areas (ER=0.63%, 95%CI: 0.44%-0.82%). The combined effect of PM(2.5) concentration below 75 μg/m(3) (ER=0.50%, 95%CI: 0.37%-0.62%) was higher than that of PM(2.5) concentration ≥75 μg/m(3) (ER=0.39%, 95%CI: 0.26%-0.52%). Conclusion: Within the concentration range from 47.7 to 176.7 μg/m(3), short-term exposure to current level of PM(2.5) might increase both the all-cause daily mortality and daily emergency visits in China.