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. 2012;7(5):e36174.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036174. Epub 2012 May 1.

Prevalence of childhood atopic dermatitis: an urban and rural community-based study in Shanghai, China

Feng Xu  1 , Shuxian Yan, Fei Li, Minqiang Cai, Weihan Chai, Minmin Wu, Chaowei Fu, Zhuohui Zhao, Haidong Kan, Kefei Kang, Jinhua Xu
Affiliations

Prevalence of childhood atopic dermatitis: an urban and rural community-based study in Shanghai, China

Feng Xu et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory and chronically relapsing disorder with increasing prevalence. However, little is known about its prevalence in Shanghai, the top metropolitan of China. This study will estimate and compare the prevalence of AD in urban and rural areas in representative samples of 3 to 6-year-old children in Shanghai.

Methodology/principal findings: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed. Pre-school children were obtained by cluster sampling from 8 communities in different districts in Shanghai. The main instrument was the core questionnaire module for AD used in the U.K. Working Party's study. All the data were statistically analyzed by EpiData 3.1 and SPSS16.0. A total of 10,436 children completed the study satisfactorily, with a response rate of 95.8%. The prevalence of AD in 3 to 6-year-old children was 8.3% (Male: 8.5%, Female: 8.2%). The prevalence in urban areas of Shanghai was gradiently and significantly higher than that in rural areas. The highest prevalence was in the core urban area (10.2% in Xuhui Tianping) vs. the lowest far from the urban areas (4.6% in Chongming Baozhen).

Conclusions/significance: The prevalence of AD was 8.3% (95%CI: 7.6%-9.1%) in children aged 3 to 6 in Shanghai. The prevalence of AD decreased from the center to the rural areas in Shanghai.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Location of eight communities.
The urban area of Shanghai is encircled as the Inner Ring (red) and urbanized suburb of Shanghai is encircled as the Outer Ring (pink).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Prevalence of AD in different districts; GDP per capita in different districts.
Figure 2a Prevalence of AD in different districts. 1 The prevalence of Urban (#1XT and #2PH) showed statistically significant difference to that of other districts (P<0.05). 2 The prevalence of Suburban (#3CX and #4JJ) showed statistically significant difference to that of the rural areas (P<0.05). 3. Meanwhile the prevalence of different communities in each unit (Urban, Suburban and Rural) showed no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). Figure 2b GDP per capita in different districts. The prevalence of AD has significant correlation with GDP per capita in different districts.(rs = 0.786, P = 0.001)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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