Regional and Age Epidemiological Analysis of Hepatitis A Viral in China, 2004-2017

Abstract

Background: To describe the prevalence features, including age, regions, morbidity and mortality of hepatitis A viral in China from 2004 to 2017 by searching the China Public Health Sciences Data Center with the keyword “Hepatitis A virus (HAV)”.Methods: In this study, HAV morbidity and mortality data were retrieved from China Public Health Science Data Center (CPHSD) using HAV as a keyword. HAV infection data from 2004 to 2017, HAV cases and HAV-related deaths were retrieved from 31 regions in China, except Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. SPSS 18 is used for statistical analysis. GraphPad Prism 5 is used to draw line graphs and histograms. Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 and Adobe Illustrator CS 6 are used for drawing geographically distributed China maps.Results: From 2004 to 2017, the rates of hepatitis A viral morbidity and mortality in China were keeping decrease annually (7.1997 and 3.0772 in 2004; 2.6430 and 0.2997 in 2010; 1.3679 and 0.2899 in 2017, respectively, 1/100,000) (p<0.001). The HAV infection rate of children (0-10 years old) was higher than that of the elderly (>50 years old) (p<0.001). The geographical distribution of HAV prevalence showed significant regional differences which showed that hepatitis A patients were more prevalent in Sichuan and Xinjiang provinces (averaged number >4,000/ year). HAV-related death does not differ much between regions (averaged number 0~2.1/ year)Conclusions: Our analysis of viral hepatitis A prevalence features over past 14 years suggests that the incidence and mortality of HAV are decreased annually in China.