Epidemiological features of condyloma acuminatum in national sexually transmitted disease surveillance sites in China from 2008 to 2016.

Objective To investigate epidemiological features of condyloma acuminatum in China, and to provide scientific evidences for developing control strategies. Methods A descriptive epidemiological study was conducted to analyze personal, spatial and temporal distribution of condyloma acuminatum cases reported from 105 national sexually transmitted disease (STD) surveillance sites between 2008 and 2016. Results The reported incidence rate of condyloma acuminatum decreased from 29.47 per 100 000 in 2008 to 24.26 per 100 000 in 2016, with an average annual decline rate of 2.21%. There was marked variation in the reported incidence of condyloma acuminatum among different surveillance sites, with a range from < 1 per 100 000 to 207.36 per 100 000. The reported incidence was relatively high in the Zhujiang River Delta region, Yangtze River Delta region, Minjiang River region and some ethnic minority areas in western China, but low in northeast China, north China and central China. In addition, no cases were reported at a few sites in rural areas. The reported annual incidence rate was higher in females than in males from 2008 to 2010, but higher in males than in females from 2011 to 2016. The ratio of male to female cases increased from 0.97∶1 in 2008 to 1.11∶1 in 2016. Among all the age groups, the sexually active population aged 20-39 years showed high reported incidence of condyloma acuminatum, with the highest reported incidence observed in the group aged 25-29 years (range, 68.78/100 000-91.12/100 000) . Among all kinds of medical institutions, general hospitals had the largest number of reported cases of condyloma acuminatum (range, 60.44%-79.48%) , followed by specialized dermatovenereology hospitals, gynecology hospitals and maternal and child health (MCH) hospitals. Conclusions Overall, the incidence of condyloma acuminatum shows a stable or a slight downward trend with a high level in national STD surveillance sites, but is still on the rise in some low-epidemic surveillance sites. More attention should be paid to the prevention of condyloma acuminatum, and effective preventive measures are needed to be developed according to its epidemiological features. Key words: Condylomata acuminata; Sexually transmitted diseases; Epidemiology; Population surveillance; Incidence