title: The Effects of Weather Factors on Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Beijing.
abstract: The morbidity and mortality of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) are increasing in Beijing, China. Previous studies have indicated an association between incidents of HFMD and weather factors. However, the seasonal influence of these factors on the disease is not yet understood, and their relationship with the enterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackie virus A16 (CV-A16) viruses are not well documented. We analysed 84,502 HFMD cases from 2008 to 2011 in Beijing to explore the seasonal influence of weather factors (average temperature [AT], average relative humidity [ARH], total precipitation [TP] and average wind speed [AWS]) on incidents of HFMD by using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results indicated that weather factors differ significantly in their influence on HFMD depending on the season. AT had the greatest effect among the four weather factors, and while the influence of AT and AWS was greater in the summer than in the winter, the influence of TP was positive in the summer and negative in the winter. ARH was negatively correlated with HFMD. Also, we observed more EV71-associated cases than CV-A16 but there is no convincing evidence to show significant differences between the influences of the weather factors on EV71 and CV-A16.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Key Laboratory for Remote Sensing of Environment and Digital Cities &School of Geography and Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University, China.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Key Laboratory for Remote Sensing of Environment and Digital Cities &School of Geography and Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University, China.
authors.forename: Xian'en
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute for infectious disease and endemic disease control, Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Key Laboratory for Remote Sensing of Environment and Digital Cities &School of Geography and Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Institute for infectious disease and endemic disease control, Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute for infectious disease and endemic disease control, Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, China.
authors.forename: Quanyi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000068476:Beijing / Q000453:epidemiology; D029821:Enterovirus A, Human; D006232:Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D012621:Seasons; D014887:Weather