Epidemiological Characteristics of Rubella in Beijing Haidian District of China, 2005 - 2020

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of rubella in Beijing Haidian District of China, from 2005 to 2020, providing scientific basis for controlling the prevalence of rubella and the congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Methods: Data were collected via the legal infectious disease report cards from medical institutions in Beijing Haidian District during 2005 to 2020. The descriptive epidemiological methods plus statistic analysis were used to analyze the distribution of rubella in terms of population, time and region. Results: In total, there were 994 cases of rubella in Beijing Haidian District, with an average annual incidence of 1.81/100,000 population. The majority of patients were at the age from 15 to 29 years old, accounting for 63.4%. And the sex ratio of male-to-female was 1.45:1. The rubella had a feature of spatial aggregation and appeared in all the regions in Haidian District. In 2007, Haidian District was hitted by rubella with the highest incidence up to 8.37/100,000, in the past 16 years. The peak incident of rubella was in May of that year, accounting for 74.8%. The majority of rubella patients were students and employees (70.1%) mainly due to the gathering. According to Joinpoint regression model, rubella would still exist in the next three years with 2-5 new cases per year. Conclusions: The number of rubella in Haidian District showed a downshift trend from 2008 to 2014 and then a sporadic distribution till 2020. Yet this disease was not completely eliminated, it is quite impending to improve the awareness of rubella and their health literacy mentally and physically in the whole population by means of the policy issuing from government.