Epidemiological characteristics of and temporal-spatial clustering of gonorrhea in Zhejiang province during 2004-2012 / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of gonorrhea,and to analyze its temporal-spatial clustering in Zhejiang province.Methods Data on the incidence and demographic characteristics of gonorrhea in Zhejiang province from January 2004 to December 2012 were obtained from the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention.The population,time and space distributions of gonorrhea were described.Epidemic curve and incidence maps were drawn.A space-time permutation scan statistic was used to detect space-time clusters,and spatial autocorrelation analysis was performed to calculate the Moran's I value and draw Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) cluster maps.Results In Zhejiang province,a total of 199 956 cases of gonorrhea were reported with a decreasing trend in incidence rate from 2004 to 2012.The male to female ratio was 3.511 (155 634/44 331).People aged between 25 and 60 years accounted for 75.21％ of these patients,whereas the constituent ratio of people aged 0-1 years and ＞ 60 years increased with time.The incidence rate of gonorrhea was significantly higher in middle and north parts than in the south part of Zhejiang province,and higher in summer than in winter and spring with the peak incidence observed in August.Thirteen temporal-spatial clusters were detected,with the large clusters in Hangzhou,Huzhou,Ningbo,Shaoxing and their neighbor counties/cities/ districts,as well as some counties/cities/districts in Jinhua.All of the above clusters lasted 4.5 years.LISA maps showed an increasing trend in high-high aggregation counties/cities/districts which spread from the north to south part of Zhejiang province.Conclusion There is a temporal-spatial aggregation of gonorrhea in Zhejiang province with young and middle-aged men as the main affected population.