Abstract: Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common infectious disease, causing
thousands of deaths among children in China over the past two decades. Environmental
risk factors such as meteorological factors, population factors and economic factors may
affect the incidence of HFMD. In the current paper, we used a novel model—geographical
detector technique to analyze the effect of these factors on the incidence of HFMD in
China. We collected HFMD cases from 2,309 counties during May 2008 in China. The
monthly cumulative incidence of HFMD was calculated for children aged 0–9 years.
Potential risk factors included meteorological factors, economic factors, and population
density factors. Four geographical detectors (risk detector, factor detector, ecological
detector, and interaction detector) were used to analyze the effects of some potential risk
OPEN ACCESS
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2014, 11 3408
factors on the incidence of HFMD in China. We found that tertiary industry and children
exert more influence than first industry and middle school students on the incidence of
HFMD. The interactive effect of any two risk factors increases the hazard for HFMD
transmission.