SynthesisBMC public health2025
Herpes zoster incidence and burden in older Chinese: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Prevalence and risk factors of herpes zoster in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Herpes zoster vaccination among older adults in urban China: A mixed-methods study in Shenzhen.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Burden of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia in Jinan, China: incidence, recurrence, and direct medical costs, 2018-2023, a population-based retrospective cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Functional connectome gradient alterations in herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia: associations with gene expression profiles.The journal of headache and pain · 2026Article
- Varicella-zoster virus-associated central nervous system infection in immunocompromised vs. immunocompetent herpes zoster patients: a comparative study.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Disease burden and health-related quality of life among adults aged 50 years or older with herpes zoster in Huzhou, China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Ultrasound-guided retro-neural transforaminal injection with fluoroscopic confirmation for zoster-associated pain: a retrospective propensity score-matched analysis.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Integrated Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine Approaches for Herpes Zoster and Post-Herpetic Neuralgia: A Narrative Review.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Review
- Seroprevalence and Clinical Insights of Ocular Herpesvirus Infections: A Cross-Sectional Study Evaluating ELISA as a Diagnostic Tool.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
- The quality and reliability of herpes zoster information on TikTok and Bilibili: A cross-sectional study.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrevious studies have documented variations in herpes zoster (HZ) incidence across regions and periods. We aimed to synthesize data on HZ incidence, complications, and associated healthcare costs (inpatient and outpatient) in the Chinese population aged 50 years and older over the last two decades.
methodsWe searched studies published in English between January 1, 2000, and March 31, 2023 in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCO, OVID, and Web of Science, supplemented by Chinese databases CNKI, Wan Fang, CQVIP, and Yiigle. Main search terms included 'Herpes Zoster', 'Herpesvirus 3, Human', 'Neuralgia Postherpetic', 'incidence', 'morbidity', 'epidemiology', 'complication', 'health care cost', 'expenditure', 'economic', and 'burden'. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used for quality assessment.
resultsOf 6,958 studies, 19 (73,044,981 total population) were included for analysis (1,107,682 HZ cases, mean age 63.03 ± 8.30 years, 47.10% male). The pooled annual HZ incidence from 13 studies (2 with high quality, 11 with medium quality) from 2000 to 2020 was 6.28 per 1000 PYs (95%CI: 5.42, 7.15), with a significant increasing trend over the period (meta-regression coefficient: 0.0031, 95%CI: 0.0027, 0.0036), and more pronounced among females and those with advancing age. Neuralgia system disorders were the most frequently reported complications, followed by ear and eye diseases. Furthermore, HZ-associated inpatient costs showed a 4.4-fold dramatic increases, rising from 3260 RMB in 2010-2012 to 14,303 RMB per patient in 2017-2018, while outpatient costs remained growth from 336 RMB to 1329 RMB.
conclusionsDespite the medium overall quality of the studies, our findings highlight an urgent need for effective public health strategies including vaccine aimed at reducing HZ incidence and associated healthcare costs in China.
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