Epidemiology
Hong Kong
Hong Kong had
an overall decrease in the notification rate of TB in the past 40-50
years. Peak rates of the 1950's with 697.2 per 100,000 population
in 1952 steadily declined to about 100 per 100,000 in the mid 1990's.
The overall
epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in Hong Kong during the
recent years could be summarized as follows:
- slowdown
in the rate of decline of incidence in recent years
- high incidence
in the population
Click the above image to enlarge !
Hong Kong's
tuberculosis incidence figures remain higher than some neighbouring
modern countries such as Japan and Singapore.
In the year
2002 the tuberculosis notification rates per 100,000 population
were:
| Hong
Kong |
|
95/100,000 |
|
| Singapore |
|
36/100,000 |
|
| Japan |
|
26/100,000
|
|
In contrast
the rates in Western countries are generally less than 10 per 100,000:
| Australia
|
|
5/100,000 |
(2002) |
| U.S.A.
|
|
5/100,000 |
(2004) |
The
following graph shows notification rates in the Western Pacific
Region. (WHO)
Click
the above image to enlarge !
The factors
leading to the above trends of tuberculosis in Hong Kong are probably
multifactorial and include:
- Ageing of
the population. The above trends could be largely attributable
to continuing high rates of tuberculosis in the elderly and to
the increase of the proportion of the elderly in the population.
The ageing population is an important factor because incidence
is higher in older people, either because of reactivation of old
infection or a new infection.
- Other demographic
and environmental changes such as high mobility of the population,
immigration from countries with high prevalence, high density
of the population.
- Other demographic
and environmental changes such as high mobility of the population
with frequent travel into mainland China and high density of the
population.
- Changes in
diagnostic practice and case finding activities
|
