%0 Journal Article
%T Analysis of the Epidemiologic Characteristics of Children with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in China.
%A Hu H
%A Ge W
%A Yan J
%J Iran J Public Health
%V 52
%N 4
%D 2023 Apr
%M 37551194
%F 1.479
%R 10.18502/ijph.v52i4.12450
%X UNASSIGNED: We aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and provide recommendations for its control and prevention.
UNASSIGNED: A descriptive epidemiological analysis was designed for HFMD in children through direct network report from 2015 to 2019.
UNASSIGNED: From 2015 to 2019, a total 27,395 HFMD cases were reported at Infection Clinic of Shanghai Children's Hospital, Shanghai, China, accounting for 79.24% of the number of reported notifiable infectious disease cases (34,573). The cases number increased since May and reached a peak from June to September, then decreased from October to December with a second small peak in some years. The proportion of cases in boys is higher than in girls (59.7% vs. 40.3%). The cases number of stay-at-home children was higher in 2016 and 2018 (60.07% and 60.95%) than in 2019 (33.47%), and that of kindergarten children and students in 2019 (51.73% and 9.75%) was significantly higher than in other years. Overall, 22606 cases were reported in <5 years group, accounting for 82.52% of the total number of cases during 2015-2019. The proportion of the cases in 5-10 and >10 years groups increased year by year from 2015 to 2019, which is statistically significant. (χ2=71.105, P=0.00; χ2=78.413, P=0.00).
UNASSIGNED: The epidemiological characteristics of HFMD had changed during 2015-2019. Analysis of these data can provide helpful evidence to prevention and early treatment of the HFMD, and identification severe cases and handling the outbreaks.