Abstract
BackgroundPneumonia is a leading infectious disease killer worldwide, yet the burden in China is not well understood as much of the data is published in the non-English literature.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe systematically reviewed the Chinese- and English-language literature for studies with primary data on pneumonia incidence and mortality in mainland China. Between 1985 and 2008, 37 studies met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the studies was highly variable. For children <5 years, incidence ranged from 0.06–0.27 episodes per person-year and mortality ranged from 184–1,223 deaths per 100,000 population. Overall incidence and mortality were stable or decreased over the study period and were higher in rural compared to urban areas.Conclusions/SignificancePneumonia continues to be a major public health challenge in young children in China, and estimates of pneumonia incidence and mortality vary widely. Reliable surveillance data and new prevention efforts may be needed to achieve and document additional declines, especially in areas with higher incidence and mortality such as rural settings.
Highlights
Despite the availability of safe and effective antibiotics and vaccines for treatment and prevention, pneumonia is a leading cause of death worldwide and the leading infectious disease killer [1,2]
Despite overall trends from these studies suggesting that pneumonia incidence and mortality are stable or decreasing, pneumonia continues to be a major public health concern in China [7]
The studies in this review found incidence of pneumonia in children,5 years of age that were as low as what has been estimated for the developed world globally (0.05 episodes per person-year) and that were as high as what has been estimated for the developing world (0.29 episodes per person-year) [52]
Summary
Despite the availability of safe and effective antibiotics and vaccines for treatment and prevention, pneumonia is a leading cause of death worldwide and the leading infectious disease killer [1,2]. Pneumonia is the single leading cause of death globally among children under 5 years of age accounting for approximately 2 million deaths annually [2,3]. A 2008 global review by Rudan and colleagues estimated that there were 21.1 million new cases of clinical pneumonia annually in China in children under 5 years of age (0.22 episodes/person-year), which is second only to India in burden (43.0 million new cases, 0.37 episodes/person-year) [3]. Pneumonia is a leading infectious disease killer worldwide, yet the burden in China is not well understood as much of the data is published in the non-English literature
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