Association between activity of hand, foot and mouth disease and meteorological factors in Suzhou / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the association between activity of hand,foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and the meteorological factors in Suzhou.Methods A total of 17 653 children diagnosed with HFMD in Children's Hospital Affiliated to Suzhou University during 2008 to 2011 were enrolled.The meteorological factors in(c)luding mean temperature,relative humidity,rainfall amount,sum of sunshine and mean wind velocity during Jan 2008 to Dec 2011 were collected monthly.Numeration data were analyzed using chi square or Fisher exact test.Normal distribution data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and non-normal distribution data were analyzed using Spearman rank correlation.Results HFMD could be found all over the year and had obvious seasonality which peaked in Summer,followed by Spring and Autumn and HFMD decreased markedly in Winter.The activity of HFMD was positive correlated with mean temperature(r=0.716,P＜0.01),wind velocity (r=0.630,P＜0.01),rainfall(r=0.477,P＜0.01) and sum of sunshine(r=0.311,P＜0.05).No statistical significance was observed between relative humidity and HFMD(r =0.276,P＞0.05).Multivariate stepwise regression analysis showed that only mean temperature and rainfall were associated with HFMD and mean temperature had stronger influence on HFMD than rainfall (t =4.687,P ＜ 0.01 ; t =2.258,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions HFMD has obvious seasonality.Mean temperature and rainfall are the main factors affecting this seasonality.