Analysis of factors affecting the epidemiology of tuberculosis in China

SETTING: The tuberculosis (TB) epidemic situation is both a public health problem and a socio-economic issue in China. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of socio-economic development and of the TB control strategy on the TB epidemic in China. METHODS: Based on the four National Epidemiological Surveys of TB and the indices of socio-economic development in China, correlation co-efficiency was used to analyse the relationship between changes in the TB epidemic situation, the socio-economic level and the Health V TB control Project. RESULTS: The prevalence of smear-positive TB had significant medium correlation with the per capita net in-come of the rural population, the consumption level of the urban population, the per capita GDP, the population density, and the proportion of rural to total population, among which the correlation with the first four was negative and with the last was positive. The decline in prevalence in the project areas was much greater than in the non-project areas (44.4% vs. 12.3%), while their GDP increases were similar. CONCLUSION: With socio-economic development, correlation between the socio-economic indices and the TB epidemic becomes more significant. The TB control project is vital to reduce the prevalence of TB in China.