Rural-to-urban migrants are at high risk of sexually transmitted and viral hepatitis infections in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Worldwide, it’s estimated that more than one million people newly acquire STIs every day [1], mostly consisting of HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes simplex virus (HSV) and human papillomavirus (HPV). Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) are two commonly transmitted hepatitis infections [2]. An increasing body of evidence indicates that these hepatitis infections can also be transmitted sexually [3‐6]. These STIs and hepatitis cause millions of instances of stillbirth, infertility, liver dysfunction and death every year [7]. As the most populous country in the world, China has witnessed rapidly emerging STIs and hepatitis epidemics in recent decades [8‐10]. The total number of reported cases of notifiable STIs, HBV and HCV infections substantially increased from 1.39 million to 1.78 million from 2004 to 2011. The resulting number of deaths increased from 1,647 to 10,062 during the same period [11].

Due to rapid economic development in urban China, many surplus rural residents migrate to urban areas for better employment opportunities [12]. By 2013, the size of the rural-to-urban migrant population had reached 245 million [13], accounting for 20% of the total Chinese population. The large numbers of migrants surging into urban areas have substantially increased urban population density, aggravated the burden of infectious diseases and facilitated their transmission [14]. The majority of the migrant population is male, less educated and works in low-skilled and low-paid jobs [15, 16]. Being away from their spouses, migrants, especially male migrants, are more likely to participate in extramarital sex [17]. Unemployed migrants may also enter the commercial sex industry [18‐22]. Approximately 10% of female migrants have participated in sex work during their stay in urban areas and consistent condom use with clients is low (15%) [23]. In addition, more than two-thirds of urban male sex workers have a migratory background [24]. An estimated 2-12% of migrants use illicit drugs [25‐27].

The high mobility of migrants has facilitated the transmission of STIs and hepatitis across China [28, 29]. International studies have indicated that migrants are more susceptible to STIs and hepatitis than local residents [29‐32]. However, some have disputed this view. Ojeda et al. reported migrant status was not associated with an elevated risk of STI acquisition among female sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico [33]. Others have suggested that socio-economic status and disease burden at place of origin may be stronger determinants of STI status [34‐38]. This highlights the importance of the local contexts in mediating infection risks among migrants [39, 40]. Little is known about the prevalence and risk of STIs and hepatitis among Chinese migrants. Although HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and hepatitis are notifiable under the current infectious disease case reporting system, only an estimated 10% of cases were reported [41]. Despite the establishment of the parallel STI sentinel surveillance system with 1,318 sites by 2009, very few reports on nationwide STI prevalence among migrants have been published [42]. Based on a well-constructed systematic review and meta-analysis, this study aims to: (1) assess the prevalence and risk of common STIs and hepatitis among rural-to-urban migrants in China; (2) identify migrant subgroups with the highest risk of STIs and hepatitis according to their occupations; (3) determine whether migrant status contributes to a higher risk of infection among pregnant women, female sex workers (FSWs), drug users (DUs) and men who have sex with men (MSM).

Our findings provide evidence that rural-to-urban migrants are subjected to a higher risk of STIs and hepatitis than the Chinese population as a whole. Of these, migrant women, construction workers and long-distance truck drivers are migrant subgroups that are the most susceptible to STIs, HBV and HCV infections. Migrant pregnant women demonstrate significantly higher HIV prevalence than pregnant women in the general Chinese population, but the risks of STIs and hepatitis do not differ between MARPs and their corresponding migrant subpopulations.

The risks of STIs and hepatitis are probably related to demographic characteristics and sexual behavior. Migrants who are construction workers and long-distance truck drivers are predominantly male and more likely to solicit commercial sex workers than migrants of other occupations [51]. Frequent sex encounters as well as low perception of risk, low STI knowledge and low rates of condom use were reported among these occupational groups. In particular, consistent with previous findings [29, 30], a high level of STIs and HCV infection has been reported in this analysis, The migratory status and risky sexual behaviors among long-distance truck drivers may both contribute to the greater risk of STIs [52, 53] In addition, long-distance truck drivers are found to be more likely to engage in illicit drug use than the general population which may lead to higher risks of HCV infection [54, 55]. By contrast, women who migrated due to marriage are a specific migrant subgroup. Demographic studies have suggested that most of these women come from a less-developed Southwest and Northwest China which geographically overlap with areas of high STIs and HCV transmission [56‐59]. These women may have been already infected prior to their migration [57]. Prevention of the further spread of these infections to their serodiscordant husbands should be a priority for this migrant subgroup.

The high levels of HIV infection among migrant pregnant women are alarming. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV has been initiated since 2003 under the China’s ‘Four Free One Care’ policy and the program was further expanded to cover syphilis and HBV infection in 2009 [60]. The PMTCT program has been shown to be highly effective in reducing vertical transmission of HIV by 60-80% among participants in care [61‐63]. However, high mobility, low socio-economic status and poor perception about the transmission of STIs and hepatitis [64] among migrant pregnant women remain as major barriers to timely PMTCT services [65].

Migratory background plays only a small role in the most at-risk populations. The proportion of DUs (39.03%) and MSM (40.44%) who are migrants is comparable to the actual proportion of rural-to-urban migrants in urban China (20.00-37.42%) [66, 67]. By contrast, as the majority of FSWs (67.38%) already have a migratory background, the comparison of infection risks between FSWs and its migrant subgroup may not be meaningful, as the expected differences are insignificant. Among DUs and MSM, having multiple sexual partners and unprotected sex, and using unsafe intravenous needle are the major risk factors for STIs and hepatitis [68‐71]. These risks likely dominate the risks from occasional casual and commercial activities associated with migrants. Nevertheless, the high proportion of FSWs with a migratory background indicates that intervention programs targeting migrant FSWs could have extended their impact over the overall FSWs population in China.

A number of limitations to this study should be noted. First, despite a thorough search and literature review, very few studies provide matching disease status among non-migrants as a reference for direct prevalence comparison with migrants. We used the overall general Chinese population for comparison. Second, heterogeneities across studies remain significant despite of detailed subgroup categorization and analyses. We did not find strong evidence for significant temporal variation of disease prevalence (consistent with a previous study [72]), but we acknowledge that the differences in specificity and sensitivity of diagnosis tests may have contributed to the heterogeneities in prevalence levels. Other factors, such as study location and sampling method may also have contributed to the heterogeneities. Third, publication bias exists in some sub-group analyses. Regions that are more developed or have higher disease burdens may have been more likely to contribute to our data.

This study indicates disproportionately high disease burdens of STIs and hepatitis among rural-to-urban migrants in China. With its growing population size, timely prevention and treatment of these infections for migrants remains a high priority. Surveillance and prevention efforts need to be sensitive to migrants’ demographic backgrounds and occupations. Further expansion of the PMTCT program is necessary to provide sufficient access to migrant pregnant women regardless of their residence status.

Overall, rural-to-urban migrants have higher risks of STIs and hepatitis than the Chinese general population, but migratory background does not increase the risks of STIs and hepatitis infections among FSWs, MSM and DUs.