title: [Big data analysis of flow of tuberculosis cases in China, 2014].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the flow of tuberculosis(TB)cases for medical care in China in 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analysis and visualization of reported flow of TB cases were conducted with software R to indicate the case distribution/flow and the levels of hospital where TB cases sought medical care in different provinces.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In a province, the TB cases mainly flowed to the province capital, but the inter-provincial flow was mainly to neighbor provinces and from central or western provinces to eastern provinces(municipality), such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. The grade Ⅲ(A)hospitals were the choice of most TB cases seeking medical care in other provinces.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The epidemic situation of TB in China is still serious, and the flow of TB cases would facilitate the spread of the disease. It is necessary to strengthen the research on influence of TB case flow for seeking medical care on the spread of TB to provide evidence for better TB prevention and control.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Surveillance and Information Service Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China.
authors.forename: Q N
authors.initials: QN
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: J Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002947:Cities; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058872:Epidemics; D015438:Health Behavior; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012042:Registries; D012984:Software; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control