Epidemic characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis in migrants in China, 2016–2020

  Objective  To explore the epidemic characteristics of pulmonary tuberculosis in migrants in China from 2016 to 2020, and to provide a reference for policy formulation.

  Methods  The medical records of pulmonary tuberculosis patients diagnosed from 2016 to 2020 were exported according to their current addresses from the “Tuberculosis Information Management System”, which was the subsystem of “China Disease Prevention and Control Information System”, and their demographic characteristics, disease characteristics and inflow/outflow were analyzed.

  Results  During the period from 2016 to 2020, the proportion of local patients in all diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients decreased from 79.69% to 71.43%, showing a downward trend year by year (Z=291.25, P<0.01). The proportion of intra-provincial migrant patients showed a gradual upward trend, while the proportion of inter-provincial migrant patients maintained at the level of 6.00%. Male patients accounted for more than 65.00%, and the age of local, intra-provincial and inter-provincial migrant patients showed a younger trend. The migrant patients mainly flowed from Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan and other provinces to coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Zhejiang.

  Conclusion  Migrant tuberculosis patients are mainly young men who migrate within the province. Zhejiang and Guangdong and other provinces face great challenges from migrant patients. Corresponding intervention measures should be formulated to strengthen the publicity, education, screening and treatment management of the migrant population.