Association between Temperature and Influenza Activity across Different Regions of China during 2010-2017

Dina Wang; Hao Lei; Dayan Wang; Yuelong Shu; Shenglan Xiao

doi:10.3390/v15030594

Association between Temperature and Influenza Activity across Different Regions of China during 2010-2017

Viruses. 2023 Feb 21;15(3):594. doi: 10.3390/v15030594.

Authors

Dina Wang^{1

2}, Hao Lei³, Dayan Wang⁴, Yuelong Shu^{1

2

5}, Shenglan Xiao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
² School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China.
³ School of Public Health, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
⁴ National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Collaboration Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China.
⁵ Institute of Pathogen Biology of Chinese Academy of Medical Science (CAMS)/Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing 100730, China.

Abstract

Influenza causes a significant disease burden as an acute respiratory infection. Evidence suggests that meteorological factors can influence the spread of influenza; however, the association between these factors and influenza activity remains controversial. In this study, we investigated the impact of temperature on influenza across different regions of China based on the meteorological data and influenza data from 554 sentinel hospitals in 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2010 to 2017. A distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) was used to analyze the exposure lag response of daily mean temperatures to the risk of influenza-like illness (ILI), influenza A (Flu A), and influenza B (Flu B). We found that in northern China, low temperatures increased the risk of ILI, Flu A, and Flu B, while in central and southern China, both low and high temperatures increased the risk of ILI and Flu A, and only low temperatures increased the risk of Flu B. This study suggests that temperature is closely associated with the influenza activity in China. Temperature should be integrated into the current public health surveillance system for highly accurate influenza warnings and the timely implementation of disease prevention and control measures.

Keywords: influenza A; influenza B; influenza-like illness; temperature.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China / epidemiology
Hot Temperature
Humans
Influenza, Human* / epidemiology
Meteorological Concepts
Temperature

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, grant number 2021YFC2300100; National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 82103963; Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, grant number 2020A1515110455; Shenzhen Science and technology program, grant number KQTD20180411143323605, RCBS20210706092345029 and San-Ming Project of Medicine in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, grant number SZSM202103008.