Hyperuricemia, the physiological prerequisite for gout, is linked to the presence and severity of multiple comorbidities that affect longevity and well-being. By using the baseline data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey, the prevalence of hyperuricemia in general middle-aged and older Chinese was estimated. The potential effects of health behaviours and comorbidities on hyperuricemia were also explored. In 2010, the prevalence of hyperuricemia among middle-aged and older Chinese was 6.4%. Hyperuricemia was more prevalent in males than in females (7.9% vs. 4.9%). The risk of hyperuricemia increased with advanced age in both sexes. In males, current drinking, obesity and dyslipidemia were positively associated with hyperuricemia, whereas singles males and males living in North China were with lower odds of having hyperuricemia. For females, being single, at a higher economic level, living in the Southwest China, smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia were all significant risk factors for hyperuricemia, but females living in North China and Northwest China were with a lower hyperuricemia prevalence than females in East China. Therefore, hyperuricemia in China was not as prevalent as in developed countries, its prevalence varied greatly according to demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is generally defined as a cluster of metabolically related cardiovascular risk factors which are often associated with the condition of insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure, and abdominal obesity. During the past decades, MetS has become a major public health issue worldwide in both adults and children. In this study, data from the China Health and Nutrition Surveys (CHNS) was used to assess the prevalence of MetS based on both the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATPIII) guidelines and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria, and to evaluate its possible correlates. A total of 831 children aged 7–18 years were included in this study, and 28 children were classified as having MetS as defined by the modified NCEP-ATPIII definition, which yielded an overall prevalence of 3.37%. Elevated blood pressure was the most frequent MetS component. The results of logistic regression models revealed that increased body mass index (BMI), hyperuricemia, and insulin resistance (IR) were all associated with the presence of MetS. To conclude, our study revealed the prevalence of MetS in Chinese children at the national level. Further large-scale studies are still needed to identify better MetS criteria in the general paediatric population in China.

Pterygium is a common chronic ophthalmic condition, which may result in significant visual morbidity or lead to blindness in extreme cases. The prevalence of pterygium in China has not been reported at the sub-national level. In this study, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of pterygium in China. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, Chinese Biomedicine Literature Database (CBM-SinoMed), PubMed, Embase and Medline were searched before September 2016. We performed a multilevel mixed-effect meta-regression based on the included studies, our results showed that age, gender and latitude were significantly associated with pterygium prevalence. Based on the final model, the age and gender-specific prevalence of pterygium in 31 Chinese provinces (except Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan) and the whole country was generated. In 2010, the overall prevalence of pterygium in Chinese people aged 15–84 years was 9.84% (95% CI: 6.72–14.14), and the number of pterygium cases in China was 108.65 million (95% CI: 74.23–156.13). In conclusion, the prevalence of pterygium in Chinese population in 2010 was estimated at both the national and provincial levels. The higher burden of pterygium across the country calls for efforts to advocate public health education encouraging people to take appropriate protective measures.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), a leading cause of preventable childhood blindness, has been recognized as an important public health problem in many developing countries. In this study, we conducted a systematic review to identify all population-based studies of VAD and marginal VAD (MVAD) in Chinese children published from 1990 onwards. Hierarchical Bayesian meta-regressions were performed to examine the effects of age, sex, setting and year on the prevalence of VAD and MVAD, separately. The estimated prevalence was applied to the Chinese pediatric population in the year 2015 to generate prevalence estimates of VAD and MVAD for defined age groups, with 95% credible intervals (CrIs). Fifty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of VAD and MVAD both decreased with increasing age, and rural children had a higher prevalence of VAD and MVAD than urban children. In 2015, the prevalence of VAD was 5.16% (95% CrI: 1.95–12.64) and that of MVAD was 24.29% (95% CrI: 12.69–41.27) in Chinese children aged 12 years and under. VAD remains a public health problem in China. Efforts to reduce VAD in younger children are needed, especially for those in rural areas.

With the rapid development of urbanization, pregnant population is growing rapidly in Shenzhen, and it has been a difficulty to serve more and more pregnant women and reduce spatial access disparities to maternity units (MUs). Understanding of the current status of accessibility to MUs is valuable for supporting the rational allocation of MUs in the future. Based on pregnant population data and MUs data, this study uses a two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method based on Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyze the current spatial accessibility to MUs, and then make a comparison between that to public MUs and private MUs. Our analysis of the accessibility to all MUs within a distance of 20 km shows that the accessibilities of the areas alongside the traditional border management line are acceptable, meanwhile highlights some critical areas, such as the west part of Nanshan district and the vast east part of Longgang district. The comparison between spatial accessibility to public MUs and private MUs shows statistically significant difference. Results of this study suggest a great effort should be made to improve the equity of spatial accessibility to MUs in Shenzhen. For policy-making, strategy for the siting and allocation of future MUs, no matter public or private, should guarantee the greatest spatial accessibility for every pregnant woman.