Spatio-temporal characteristics analysis of hand, foot and mouth disease in Chaohu City

Objective To assess the spatio-temporal clustering of HFMD in Chaohu City from 2009 to 2015. Methods Epidemiological data of HFMD were collected from 2009 to 2015,and the relevant GIS databases were established. The global and local indicators of spatial autocorrelation analysis was carried out with GeoDa 1.6 software, and SaTScan 9.4 was used to describe the retrospective space time scan.Results A total of 6 960 cases were reported in Chaohu city from 2009 to 2015.The HFMD cases were aggregated in Chaohu City, and local indicators of spatial association analysis explored 14 regions of high-incidence clusters in 2011,2013 to 2015.Three statistically significant HFMD clusters were identified. HFMD mostly occurred in urban area. Conclusions HFMD is clustered geographically in Chaohu City. This study may provide clues about HFMD risk factors and provide theoretical basis for further prevention and control in Chaohu City.