Trends on the epidemics of acute meningitis and encephalitis among population under 18 years-old in Shijiazhuang city, 2007-2017 / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the trends on the epidemics of acute meningitis and encephalitis (AME) among children under 18 years-old in Shijiazhuang city, 2007-2017.@*Methods@#Surveillance programs on acute meningitis and encephalitis (AMES) had been conducted in population less than 18 years-old, since 2007. Hospitals at county level or above in Shijiazhuang had been included to carry out the epidemiologic surveillance, including 6 on pathogens, regarding AMES. Qualitative description was performed to describe the epidemiologic patterns and pathogenic spectrums. Annual percent change (APC) was used to demonstrate the secular trends of AME.@*Results@#In 2007-2017, 11 222 locally developed AME cases that younger than 18 years-old, were reported in Shijiazhuang, with the annual average incidence rate as 108.62/100 000 (1 021/939 974) and APC as 4.81%(95%CI 3.90%-5.93%)(t=23.01, P<0.001). Age-specific incidence appeared the highest among 4-5 years-old (242.96 cases per 100 000 children per year). Significant differences were found among children of other aged years except aged 0- years (aged 1- years t=20.21, P=0.004; aged 2- years t=19.41, P=0.006; aged 3- years t=23.50, P<0.001; aged 4- years t=31.76, P<0.001; aged 5- years t=18.53, P=0.008; aged 10-17 years t=12.82, P=0.023). The ratio of male to female was 1.46 ∶ 1 (6 652/4 570). The ratio of urban to rural cases was 0.28 ∶ 1 (2 456/8 766). A total of 57.73% (6 478/11 222) of the cases were seen between June and September. The overall positive rate of pathogens was 20.07% (658/3 123) among these patients. The top five pathogens appeared as Enterovirus (44.68%, 264/658), Cryptococcus neoformans (9.12%, 60/658), Japanese encephalitis virus (8.66%, 57/658), Streptococcus pneumoniae (6.99%, 47/658) and Varicella-zoster virus (6.69%, 44/658).@*Conclusions@#AME seriously harms the health of population under 18 years-old in Shijiazhuang city, with aged 3- years, aged 4- years in particular. Continued improvement on surveillance and expanded immunization are important to AME prevention and control.