Impacts of Different Grades of Tropical Cyclones on Infectious Diarrhea in Guangdong, 2005-2011

Ruihua Kang,Baofa Jiang,Xin Wang,Wei Wang,Huanmiao Xun,Ying Zhang,Wei Ma,Yongchang Cao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131423

Ruihua Kang, Baofa Jiang + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131423

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Jun 24, 2015
Citations: 19	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Shandong University, University of Sydney

Abstract

ObjectiveGuangdong province is one of the most vulnerable provinces to tropical cyclones in China. Most prior studies concentrated on the relationship between tropical cyclones and injuries and mortality. This study aimed to explore the impacts of different grades of tropical cyclones on infectious diarrhea incidence in Guangdong province, from 2005 to 2011.MethodsMann-Whitney U test was firstly used to examine if infectious diarrhea were sensitive to tropical cyclone. Then unidirectional 1:1 case-crossover design was performed to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between daily number of infectious diarrhea and tropical cyclone from 2005 to 2011 in Guangdong, China. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to eliminate multicollinearity. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsThere were no significant relationships between tropical cyclone and bacillary dysentery, amebic dysentery, typhoid, and paratyphoid cases. Infectious diarrhea other than cholera, dysentery, typhoid and paratyphoid significantly increased after tropical cyclones. The strongest effect were shown on lag 1 day (HRs = 1.95, 95%CI = 1.22, 3.12) and no lagged effect was detected for tropical depression, tropical storm, severe tropical storm and typhoon, with the largest HRs (95%CI) of 2.16 (95%CI = 1.69, 2.76), 2.43 (95%CI = 1.65, 3.58) and 2.21 (95%CI = 1.65, 2.69), respectively. Among children below 5 years old, the impacts of all grades of tropical cyclones were strongest at lag 0 day. And HRs were 2.67 (95%CI = 1.10, 6.48), 2.49 (95%CI = 1.80, 3.44), 4.89 (95%CI = 2.37, 7.37) and 3.18 (95%CI = 2.10, 4.81), respectively.ConclusionAll grades of tropical cyclones could increase risk of other infectious diarrhea. Severe tropical storm has the strongest influence on other infectious diarrhea. The impacts of tropical cyclones on children under 5 years old were higher than total population.

Highlights

Typhoon cyclone, a major disaster in China, has caused serious property and casualty losses and threatened sustainable development along the southeast coast of China [1]
The strongest effect were shown on lag 1 day (HRs = 1.95, 95%confidence intervals (CI) = 1.22, 3.12) and no lagged effect was detected for tropical depression, tropical storm, severe tropical storm and typhoon, with the largest hazard ratios (HRs) (95%CI) of 2.16 (95%CI = 1.69, 2.76), 2.43 (95%CI = 1.65, 3.58) and 2.21 (95%CI = 1.65, 2.69), respectively
From 2005 to 2011, 19 tropical cyclones landed on Guangdong province, consisting of 3 tropical depressions, 7 tropical storms, 3 severe tropical storms, 5 typhoons, and 1 severe typhoon

Summary

Introduction

A major disaster in China, has caused serious property and casualty losses and threatened sustainable development along the southeast coast of China [1]. Most of the coastal provinces in China are affected by landing tropical cyclones every year [3]. Guangdong province is one of the provinces that most frequently hit by tropical cyclones. From 1949 to 2000, 477 tropical cyclones landed on China, among them, 203 landed on Guangdong with a mean annual frequency of 3.9 [4]. The landing tropical cyclones cause substantial direct economic losses and threaten human health. Studies have reported the relationship between tropical cyclones and injuries and mortality [5,6,7]

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