Objective  To estimate the incidence and burden of acute gastroenteritis among residents in Heilongjiang province, and to provide evidence for developing strategies on food-borne disease prevention and control.

  Methods  The data on residents′ acute gastroenteritis incidence during 2018 were collected from community population surveys and hospital-based foodborne disease surveillance in Heilongjiang province and a pyramid model of disease burden was constructed to estimate total number of acute gastroenteritis cases in the province. The health burden of acute gastroenteritis was measured with disability adjusted life years (DALYs).

  Results  For whole population of the province in 2018, the estimated number of acute gastroenteritis cases was 133 814 (95% confidence interval 95%CI: 105 635 – 169 334); the monthly prevalence was 3.54% (95%CI: 3.28% – 3.80%); and the incidence was 0.470/person year. The DALYs due to acute gastroenteritis was 11 320.40 (95%CI: 9239.09 – 13947.73) and the DALYs rate of the disease was 0.30 (95%CI: 0.25 – 0.37)/1 000 population, with the highest DALYs rate for the residents aged < 5 years (0.526 95%CI: 0.24 – 1.41/1 000 population) and the residents aged ≥ 60 years (0.680 95%CI: 0.49 – 0.96/1 000 population), respectively.

  Conclusion  The incidence of acute gastroenteritis was high among residents of Heilongjiang province, especially among the children under 5 years and the elderly over 60 years.