Latest ArticlesTo evaluate the protective effectiveness (VE) of acellular pertussis vaccine (aPV) in children ≤10 years of age in Nanshan district, Shenzhen city, Guangdong province, and to provide a reference for optimizing pertussis immunization strategies.
A 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted. A total of 442 clinically diagnosed or confirmed pertussis cases aged 4 months to 10 years reported in Nanshan district, Shenzhen city, from January 1, 2023, to March 25, 2024, were selected as the case group from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Information System. A total of 442 healthy children with no history of pertussis infection, matched by residential community, sex, and birth date (±1 month), were selected as the control group from the Shenzhen Immunization Program Information Management System. Data on aPV immunization history were collected for both groups. A binary conditional logistic regression model was used to analyze the VE of aPV.
The aPV vaccination rates in the case and control groups of children ≤10 years of age in Nanshan district, Shenzhen city were 94.3% (417/442) and 99.1% (438/442), respectively. The overall VE of aPV against pertussis was 84.8% (95%CI: 55.9%–94.7%). The VE of 1–2, 3, and 4 doses of aPV against pertussis was 82.5% (95%CI: 33.6%–95.4%), 88.6% (95%CI: 64.6%–96.3%), and 84.3% (95%CI: 54.3%–94.6%), respectively. The VE of 4 doses of whole-cell aPV, 1–3 doses of component pertussis vaccine plus 1–3 doses of whole-cell aPV, and 4 doses of component pertussis vaccine against pertussis was 80.5% (95%CI: 43.1%–93.3%), 91.3% (95%CI: 71.0%–97.4%), and 89.6% (95%CI: 68.8%–96.5%), respectively. The VE of aPV 0–2, 3–6, and 7–9 years after completion of the full vaccination schedule was 87.0% (95%CI: 60.6%–95.7%), 83.8% (95%CI: 52.8%–94.4%), and 82.5% (95%CI: 46.7%–94.3%), respectively. The VE of component pertussis vaccine 0–2, 3–6, and 7–9 years after completion of the full vaccination schedule was 87.7% (95%CI: 61.3%–96.1%), 89.9% (95%CI: 68.5%–96.8%), and 92.9% (95%CI: 72.7%–98.1%), respectively. The VE of whole-cell aPV 0–2, 3–6, and 7–9 years after completion of the full vaccination schedule was 85.3% (95%CI: 51.2%–95.6%), 80.1% (95%CI: 41.7%–93.2%), and 78.8% (95%CI: 33.8%–93.2%), respectively.
Timely and full aPV immunization can effectively prevent pertussis in children ≤10 years of age. It is recommended to develop component pertussis-containing combination vaccines for basic immunization.
To investigate the impacts of different vaccination doses and intervals on the age of onset in mumps-containing vaccine (MuCV) breakthrough cases, providing evidence for optimizing MuCV immunization strategies.
Data were matched from the China Disease Prevention and Control Information System and the Chongqing Immunization Planning Information Management System. MuCV breakthrough cases in children born in Shapingba district between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2023, who received MuCV and were diagnosed with mumps by December 31, 2023, were included. A multivariate linear regression model was employed to analyze the effects of vaccination doses and intervals on the age of onset in breakthrough cases.
From 2008 to 2023, 1 204 MuCV breakthrough cases were identified in Shapingba district, with disease onset primarily occurring in children aged 1–9 years (5–9 years: 639 cases, 53.07%). Breakthrough cases occurred in 782 (64.95%), 418 (34.72%), and 4 (0.33%) children who had received 1, 2, and 3 doses of MuCV, respectively, with mean onset ages of (5.25 ± 2.12), (6.52 ± 2.07), and (7.81 ± 2.51) years. Among children receiving 2 doses, those with intervals of < 2 years (97 cases, 23.21%), 2–4 years (193 cases, 46.17%), and > 4 years (128 cases, 30.62%) between doses had mean onset ages of (4.92 ± 2.08), (6.27 ± 1.53), and (8.10 ± 1.64) years, respectively. Significant differences in mean age of onset were observed across different vaccination doses and intervals (all P < 0.001). After adjusting for gender, residence, and household registration, multivariate regression showed that 2-dose (β = 1.275, 95%CI: 1.024–1.525) and 3-dose (β = 2.581, 95%CI: 0.510–4.652) recipients had delayed ages of onset compared with 1-dose recipients, with a linear trend between increasing doses and delayed onset (β = 1.275, P < 0.001). For the second dose, intervals of 2–4 years (β = 1.324, 95%CI: 0.909–1.738) and > 4 years (β = 3.175, 95%CI: 2.726–3.624) delayed onset compared with intervals < 2 years, with a linear trend between prolonged intervals and delayed onset (β = 1.605, P < 0.001).
MuCV breakthrough cases in Shapingba district from 2008 to 2023 predominantly occurred in children aged 5–9 years. Increasing vaccination doses and extending the interval to the second dose significantly delayed the age of onset.
To explore the mediating roles of job content plateau and centralization plateau in the relationship between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention among Chinese family doctor team members.
A cross-sectional study was conducted based on a network questionnaire survey from September to November 2021 among 1 474 family doctor team members in eastern, central, and western China. The Turnover Intention Scale and Career Plateau Scale were adopted for measurement. The mediating effects of job content plateau and centralization plateau on the relationship between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention were analyzed.
Chinese family doctor team members exhibited low turnover intention (2.33 ± 0.763) and moderately low perceived career plateau (2.80 ± 0.83). The hierarchical plateau (3.58 ± 0.64) demonstrated greater severity than the job content plateau (2.46 ± 0.93) and centralization plateau (2.82 ± 1.04). Hierarchical plateau, job content plateau, and centralization plateau had significantly positive correlations with turnover intention. Job content plateau (indirect effect = 0.08, 95%CI: 0.05–0.09, P < 0.001) and centralization plateau (indirect effect = 0.05, 95%CI: 0.02–0.06, P < 0.001) both partially mediated the effect of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention.
Targeted interventions focusing on reducing job content and centralization plateaus may partially mitigate the transmission path from hierarchical plateau to turnover intention. However, the three dimensions may constitute a nonlinear compensatory system, highlighting the need for considering population-specific adaptability in intervention designs.
To understand the satisfaction and suggestions of center for disease control and prevention (CDC) personnel at the provincial, city, and county levels in China regarding current talent cultivation, evaluation, and incentive mechanisms, and to provide a basis for optimizing existing policies and strengthening personnel development in a targeted manner.
In November 2024, a convenient sampling and snowball sampling method was adopted to conduct an online survey of 3 626 in-service personnel from provincial, city, and county CDCs in 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China via Questionnaire Star. A 5-point Likert scale was used to score satisfaction.
Of the 3 626 participants, 46.9%, 64.5%, and 35.9% reported that their units had established talent cultivation, evaluation, and incentive mechanisms, respectively. The satisfaction scores for the current talent cultivation, evaluation, and incentive mechanisms were 69.8%, 67.9%, and 71.0%, respectively. Higher satisfaction scores were observed in county (district) level CDCs (70.1%, 68.7%, 71.5%), those with a college degree or below (70.8%, 69.4%, 72.4%), those with less than 10 years of work experience (70.5%, 68.6%, 71.5%), and junior or awaiting appointment personnel (71.3%, 69.8%, 72.6%). Lower satisfaction scores were found in provincial CDCs (68.3%, 64.9%, 67.5%), those with postgraduate degrees (69.0%, 66.2%, 69.1%), and those with 30 or more years of work experience (66.9%, 66.0%, 69.6%). The central region had the highest satisfaction scores for talent cultivation (70.1%) and evaluation mechanisms (68.2%), while the western region had the highest satisfaction score for incentive mechanisms (71.2%). 35.9%, 22.8%, and 26.6% of the participants provided suggestions on talent cultivation, evaluation, and incentives, respectively.
Some CDCs urgently need to establish talent cultivation, evaluation, and incentive mechanisms, while those that have already established such mechanisms need to optimize and improve them based on the needs and suggestions of their employees.
To analyze the impact of diagnosis-intervention packet (DIP) payment method on the medical service structure and outpatient-inpatient structure.
Data were collected from public medical institutions in DIP pilot city A and non-DIP reform city B in China from 2019 to 2022. Descriptive and difference-in differences-analyses were conducted on the medical service structure (medical service costs, drug costs, material costs, and examination and testing costs) and outpatient-inpatient structure (outpatient and inpatient costs, outpatient visits, and number of inpatient discharges).
In terms of medical service structure, the examination and testing costs in city A decreased by 19.0% compared with those in city B (P < 0.05). In terms of the outpatient-inpatient structure, compared with city B, city A saw a 14.1% decrease in inpatient costs (P < 0.05), a 15.8% decrease in the number of inpatient discharges (P < 0.05), and an 8.3% increase in outpatient visits (P < 0.05).
The DIP payment method promotes optimization of the medical service structure. It effectively suppresses the behavior of "rushing points" and helps to promote the diversion of mild patients to outpatient clinics, while it is still necessary to prevent unreasonable outpatient transfer.
To construct a scientific and effective evaluation indicator system applicable to institutions at all levels involved in health communication in China, including but not limited to medical and health departments, science popularization departments, media, and universities, to promote the standardization and effectiveness of health communication.
Based on the "input-process-output" model and Lasswell′s "5W" communication model, an initial indicator framework was established. The Delphi method was used to invite 14 experts to screen and optimize the evaluation indicators, and the analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the indicator weights.
The questionnaire recovery rate for both rounds was 100%. The expert familiarity was 0.89, the judgment coefficient was 0.94, and the expert authority coefficient was 0.91. The coefficients of variation for both rounds of consultation were < 0.3, and the overall coordination coefficients were 0.222 and 0.268, respectively (both P < 0.001). The final indicator system includes three first-level indicators, covering input, process, and output; 12 second-level indicators, covering communication subjects, communication objects, communication channels, and other elements; and 38 third-level indicators, covering annual budget, work plan, characteristic intellectual property (IP), awards, and other aspects. The weights of the first-level indicators ranged from 0.063 to 0.562, the second-level indicators from 0.043 to 0.600, and the third-level indicators from 0.001 to 0.171.
This indicator system covers the core elements of health communication work and can more reasonably evaluate the health communication work of institutions, improving the pertinence and effectiveness of health communication.
This study aims to systematically review and compare the funding structures, research themes, and developmental trends of health-related implementation science projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). The findings will offer valuable insights for optimizing the strategic planning and funding policies of health-related scientific research in China.
With "implementation science" and "implementation research" as core keywords, relevant data on health-related implementation science funding projects from both NSFC and NIH were retrieved and screened from their official websites and various commercial databases, covering the period from January 1, 2000 to December 1, 2024. CiteSpace 6.1.2 R6 was then employed to conduct visualized analyses of theme clustering and temporal trends, enabling a comparative analysis of the funding structures, research themes, and developmental trends of these projects between China and the United States.
A total of 39 NSFC-funded projects and 487 NIH-funded projects were included in the final analysis. Both China and the United States demonstrated a strong commitment to the strategic value of implementation science in transforming public health policies and healthcare delivery systems, consistently increasing financial investment in this area. However, significant differences were observed in their funding priorities. China primarily focused on mental health and psychological well-being, whereas the United States emphasized addressing major national or international multi-center public health challenges and supporting large-scale collaborative network research. Regarding research collaboration networks, the implementation science projects funded by NSFC were concentrated at Sun Yat-sen University and Peking University, while in the United States, the University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University ranked highest. High-frequency keyword analysis of implementation science funding projects revealed that China′s research themes concentrated on "implementation science," "multiphase optimization strategy," "implementation research," "empirical research," "effect evaluation," "community," "elderly," and "children." The United States focused on "implementation science," "research personnel," "public health," "evidence base," "scale up," "implementation strategy," and "AIDS prevention," with denser distribution of keyword hotspots. Analysis of developmental trends indicated that China′s research hotspots were relatively dispersed across the time dimension, exhibiting short-term and discontinuous characteristics. Conversely, the United States′ research hotspots showed significant centrality, with greater continuity and regularity in their thematic evolution.
Substantial disparities exist between China and the United States concerning the funding priorities, scale, and developmental trajectories of implementation science. China still needs to further strengthen its research mechanisms, inter-institutional collaboration, and methodological innovation in this domain.
To conduct a visual analysis of the research dynamics, hotspots, and frontiers in field epidemiology in China from 2014 to 2024, providing a reference for research planning in this domain.
The literature on field epidemiology in China that was published in Chinese and English between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2024 was retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), SinoMed, Web of Science Core Collection, and PubMed. CiteSpace 6.3.R1 was employed to visualize the annual publication trend, author and institution collaboration networks, and keywords. Research hotspots and frontiers were systematically reviewed.
A total of 8 475 articles (7 845 in Chinese and 630 in English) were included. The annual number of publications in Chinese and English increased from 638 and 25 in 2014 to 728 and 66 in 2024, respectively. From 2014 to 2024, the annual number of publications in English that were published by Chinese authors showed an overall upward trend (β = 6.000, t = 4.861, P < 0.001), while that in Chinese rose with large fluctuations (β = 14.564, t = 1.456, P = 0.179). The most frequent category was infectious diseases (4 013 articles). Academic journals were the primary publication format (6 891 articles). Regarding methodological applications, descriptive studies (3 260 articles) were mainly used for spatiotemporal distribution analysis of infectious diseases and characterization of chemical poisoning incidents. Case-control studies (2 481 articles) were primarily applied in tracing foodborne illnesses and analyzing occupational exposure associations. Cohort studies (1 160 articles) were commonly conducted to investigate the impact of vaccination history on disease incidence. Cross-sectional surveys (398 articles) were frequently employed in nutritional status censuses. Molecular source-tracing techniques (127 articles) were predominantly utilized in studies of foodborne pathogens. In author and institution collaboration networks, high-yield authors of publications in Chinese were Wang H, Ye Y, Huang X, etc., and those in English were Zhang Y, Wang L, Wang Y, etc. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention occupied a central position in both Chinese and English publication networks. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed large nodes for "epidemiological characteristics," "outbreak," and "food poisoning" in Chinese publications and for "disease outbreaks," "public health surveillance," "risk factors," etc. in English publications. Keyword clustering analysis showed that in Chinese publications, Clusters #11 (outbreak), #14 (outbreak epidemic), and #5 (investigation analysis) formed a methodological loop from event identification to field response and source attribution. Clusters #10 (clustering) and #9 (family clusters) highlighted households and communities as key transmission settings. Co-occurrence of #6 (tuberculosis) and #3 (pulmonary tuberculosis) indicated continued focus on classical respiratory diseases, emphasizing pathogen control. In English publications, Clusters #1 (betacoronavirus), #4 (communicable diseases), and #8 (pulmonary tuberculosis) formed a triangular co-occurrence cluster. Clusters #3 (disease outbreaks), #6 (disease outbreaks), #0 (case control studies), and #2 (risk factors) systematically mapped the emergency response pathway from outbreak detection and case-control studies to risk factor identification, reflecting the systematization of public health emergency response. Clusters #12 (occupational disease) and #10 (noise) indicated occupational noise exposure as a current research focus. Keyword burst detection identified COVID-19, mpox, and mpox virus as emerging hotspots in Chinese publications, and spatio-temporal analysis and disease outbreaks in English publications.
The studies of field epidemiology in China exhibits an upward trend and is gradually extending towards practical applications.
As an emerging disinfection technology, 222-nm ultraviolet C light (222-nm UVC) has attracted considerable research interest due to its potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties and potentially favorable biosafety profile. This review provides a systematic examination of the photochemical mechanisms mediating the germicidal effects of 222-nm UVC and comprehensively evaluates the biosafety of this technology, with a particular emphasis on potential impacts on cutaneous barrier integrity and ocular surface tissue. Furthermore, we discuss the risk of ozone generation during 222-nm UVC application and critically analyze recent advances in disinfection protocols and device development. By synthesizing current evidence, this review aims to establish a scientific foundation for the precise clinical implementation of this technology and optimize the balance between antimicrobial efficacy and human safety to facilitate the translational applications of this technology in healthcare-associated infection control and public health emergency management.
To investigate the association between long-term exposure to air pollutants and immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) breakthrough infection cases, providing evidence for revealing the impacts of environmental factors on post-infection immune responses.
In March 2023, a combined convenience and stratified random sampling strategy was employed to survey community residents in 14 districts and counties of Yichang city, Hubei province. Questionnaire data and IgG measurements were obtained, and 3 885 vaccinated individuals with SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections were included in the analysis. Residential addresses were decoded to latitude and longitude. Publicly available environmental databases were used to estimate long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), inhalable particulate matter (PM10), ultrafine particulate matter (PM1), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), temperature, relative humidity, and population density. Multivariate linear regression models were employed to evaluate the effects of long-term pollutant exposure on IgG levels.
Per interquartile range increase in PM1 and NO2 was associated with –2.83% (95%CI: –5.22% to –0.45%) and –3.17% (95%CI: –5.71% to –0.63%) changes in IgG antibody levels, respectively. Combined exposure to PM1 and NO2 was associated with a –1.49% (95%CI: –2.89% to –0.10%) change in IgG antibody level, with NO2 contributing a higher proportion (57.0%) to the overall effect. Negative associations of PM1 and NO2 with IgG levels were more pronounced among individuals aged ≥ 60 years, smokers, and those with a time interval ≥ 12 months between the last vaccination and infection (all Pinteraction < 0.05).
Long-term exposure to PM1 and NO2 may impair the immune response following SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection. Individuals aged ≥ 60 years, smokers, and those with extended intervals since last vaccination are predisposed to weaker immune responses.