Abstract
BackgroundRapid economic development in urban China has led to a mass migration of surplus rural residents into urban areas for better employment opportunities. This study aims to identify prevalence levels and risks of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hepatitis among the rural-to-urban migrant population in China.MethodsChinese and English literature databases were searched for studies reporting prevalence of HIV, STIs and viral hepatitis among rural-to-urban migrants in China between 1990 and 2013. The estimates were summarised through a systematic review and meta-analysis. The risks of infection were compared between migrants and the general Chinese population.ResultsWe identified a total of 411 eligible studies. The prevalence of HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, genital warts and HCV among migrants were 0.23% (0.20-0.27%), 0.69% (0.57-0.84%), 2.18% (1.30-3.64%), 1.54% (0.70-3.36%) and 0.45% (0.31-3.65%), representing 4.0 (3.1-5.2), 1.9 (1.1-3.0), 13.6 (5.8-32.1), 38.5 (15.7-94.5) and 3.8 (1.9-7.3) higher odds of infection than among the general population. Construction workers, long-distance truck drivers and migrant women through marriage were migrant subgroups that were highly susceptible to STIs and hepatitis. HIV prevalence among migrant pregnant women (0.10%, 0.02-0.49%) was significantly higher than that of pregnant women in the general Chinese population (OR = 7.7, 3.4-17.4). However, no significant differences were observed in STIs and hepatitis between overall female sex workers (FSWs), men who have sex with men (MSM) and drug users (DUs), and the corresponding subgroups with a migratory background.ConclusionsRural-to-urban migrants have a higher risk of STIs and hepatitis than the general Chinese population, but a migratory background does not increase the infection risks of STIs and hepatitis in FSWs, MSM and DUs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-490) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Rapid economic development in urban China has led to a mass migration of surplus rural residents into urban areas for better employment opportunities
Based on a well-constructed systematic review and meta-analysis, this study aims to: (1) assess the prevalence and risk of common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hepatitis among rural-to-urban migrants in China; (2) identify migrant subgroups with the highest risk of STIs and hepatitis according to their occupations; (3) determine whether migrant status contributes to a higher risk of infection among pregnant women, female sex workers (FSWs), drug users (DUs) and men who have sex with men (MSM)
The risks of human papillomavirus (HPV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) and HBV infections did not differ between migrants and the general population. (Additional file 1: Table S7, Figure 2)
Summary
Rapid economic development in urban China has led to a mass migration of surplus rural residents into urban areas for better employment opportunities. An increasing body of evidence indicates that these hepatitis infections can be transmitted sexually [3,4,5,6] These STIs and hepatitis cause millions of instances of stillbirth, infertility, Due to rapid economic development in urban China, many surplus rural residents migrate to urban areas for better employment opportunities [12]. The majority of the migrant population is male, less educated and works in low-skilled and low-paid jobs [15,16] Being away from their spouses, migrants, especially male migrants, are more likely to participate in extramarital sex [17]. An estimated 2-12% of migrants use illicit drugs [25,26,27]
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