Association of meteorological factors with childhood viral acute respiratory infections in subtropical China: an analysis over 11 years

The objective of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the effects of meteorological factors on the prevalence and seasonality of common respiratory viruses in China, which has a subtropical climate. A retrospective study was conducted by identifying children admitted to a hospital with acute respiratory infections due to seven common viruses between January 2001 and December 2011. A total of 42,104 nasopharyngeal samples were tested for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza A and B viruses (IV-A and IV-B), parainfluenza viruses 1-3 (PIV-1, PIV-2, PIV-3), and adenovirus (ADV) by direct immunofluorescence assay. Meteorological data were obtained from Suzhou Weather Bureau. Correlations of viral prevalence with meteorological factors were evaluated using Spearman rank correlation and partial correlation. Multivariate time-series analysis including an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and generalized linear Poisson models was conducted to study the effect of meteorological factors on the prevalence of respiratory virus infection. RSV and IV-A activity showed distinctive winter peak, whereas PIV-3 and ADV peaked in the summer. Incidence of RSV was correlated with low environmental temperature, and PIV-3 only with high temperature. IV-A activity was correlated with both low temperature and high relative humidity. ADV activity was correlated with high total rainfall. In the ARIMA model, RSV-associated hospitalizations were predictable, and the monthly number of RSV cases decreased by 11.25 % (95 % CI: 5.34 % to 16.79 %) for every 1 °C increase in the average temperature. Seasonality of certain respiratory virus may be explained by meteorological influences. The impact of meteorological factors on the prevalence of RSV may be useful for predicting the activity of this virus.