Characteristics and Morbidity of the Tuberculosis Epidemic — China, 2019

Abstract

Introduction: The year 2019 was crucial for the implementation of China’s National “13th 5-Year” Tuberculosis (TB) Control Plan. We conducted this study to evaluate the characteristics and progress towards controlling TB in China. Methods: We collected and analyzed the pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) data of China between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019 from the National Notifiable Disease Reporting System (NNDRS). Results: In 2019, there were 775,764 PTB cases reported in NNDRS, of which 349,307 were bacteriologically-confirmed (Bac+) cases. The PTB case notification rate (CNR) was 55.55 per 100,000, and the Bac+ CNR was 25.01 per 100,000. From 2018 to 2019, the number of PTB cases fell by 6.3%, but the number of Bac+ cases increased by 25.9%. The annual decrease in the rate of reported PTB was 3.4% from 2015 to 2019. The 5 provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) with the highest PTB CNR were as follows: Tibet (182.38 per 100,000), Xinjiang (169.05 per 100,000), Qinghai (134.53 per 100,000), Guizhou (102.51 per 100,000), and Hainan (90.22 per 100,000). The rate of reported PTB was 74.84 per 100,000 for males and 35.40 per 100,000 for females. There were 8,116 cases (1.0%) among children aged 0–14 years, and 197,730 cases (25.5%) among adults aged 65 years and over. Of the reported cases, 470,932 were farmers, which was the most common occupation at 60.7%. Conclusions and Implications for Public Health Practice: The TB epidemic has decreased dramatically year by year. Most PTB cases were in the central and western regions of China, and the high-risk groups were farmers and elderly people aged 65 years and over.