Effect of the one-child policy on influenza transmission in china: a stochastic transmission mode

/ / Faculty Research in Asia, Research

CGPH FACULTY: Aubree Gordon

DATE OF PUBLICATION: February 2014

REGION: Asia

REFERENCE: Liu F, Enanoria WT, Ray KJ, Coffee MP, Gordon A, Aragón TJ, Yu G, Cowling BJ, Porco TC. Effect of the one-child policy on influenza transmission in china: a stochastic transmission model. PLoS One. 2014 Feb 6;9(2):e84961. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084961. eCollection 2014.

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: The epidemiology of communicable diseases may have been affected by China’s one-child-per-couple policy since the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases depend on demographic characteristics of the population. Of particular interest is influenza because China and Southeast Asia lie at the center of a global transmission network of influenza. Moreover, changes in household structure may affect influenza transmission. Is it possible that the pronounced demographic changes that have occurred in China have affected influenza transmission? This study found that the average annual attack rate is slightly lowered in a population with a one-child policy, which may have resulted from a decrease in household size and the proportion of children in the population.

ACCESS: Link to Pubmed