Understanding and Harnessing the Health Effects of Rapid Urbanization in China英文文献.pdfVIP

POLICY ANALYSIS /est Understanding and Harnessing the Health Effects of Rapid Urbanization in China Yong-Guan Zhu,*,†,‡ John P. A. Ioannidis, §,^ Hong Li,|| Kevin C. Jones,|| and Francis L. Martin*,|| †Key Laboratory of Urban Environment Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China ‡Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China §Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, United States ^Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina 45110, Greece ) Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, U.K. ABSTRACT: China is undergoing a rapid transition from a rural to an urban society. This societal change is a consequence of a national drive toward economic prosperity. Rapid urbanization impacts on infrastructure, environ- mental health and human wellbeing. Unlike many cases of urban expansion, Chinese urbanization has led to containment, rather than to increase, in the spread of infectious diseases. Conversely, the incidence of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases has risen, with higher rates occurring in urban regions. This ruralurban gradient in disease incidence seems not to be a reflection simply of more aggressive diagnosis or healthcare access. Other diseases exhibit little rural versus urban differences (e.g., liver cancer or respiratory disease), or even occur at a higher rate in the rural population (e.g., esophageal cancer). This a