Disease burden of acute gastrointestinal illness in Hubei province: a population-based estimation

Objective To estimate the disease burden of acute gastroenteritis in the population of Hubei province.Methods Multi-stage random cluster sampling was used to recruit participants for the study.Household interviews were conducted from January through December 2012 to collect information on the incidence and treatment of acute gastroenteritis among the participants.Results Totally 3891 people were surveyed.The observed monthly prevalence of acute gastroenteritis was 4.1%(95%confidence interval95%CI:3.4%-4.7%);the annual incidence probability was 41.7%(95%CI:36.2%-46.6%);and the annual incidence rate was 0.49(95%CI:0.42-0.57) episodes per person-year.Weighted by population size, the adjusted monthly prevalence was 4.9%(95%CI:4.2%-5.6%) and the annual incidence probability was 47.8%(95%CI:42.8%-52.8%), with an annual incidence rate of 0.65(95%CI:0.56-0.74) episodes per person-year.The estimated person-times of acute gastroenteritis incident were 37.564 millions in Hubei in 2012, with 24.341 millions person-times of clinic visit and 2.968 millions person-times of hospitalization.Conclusion The disease burden of acute gastroenteritis was heavy in Hubei province in 2012.The government agencies should pay attentions to the problem.