Per capita incidence of sexually transmitted infections increases systematically with urban population size: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Rampant urbanisation rates across the globe demand that we improve our understanding of how infectious diseases spread in modern urban landscapes, where larger and more connected host populations enhance the thriving capacity of certain pathogens.

Methods

A data-driven approach is employed to study the ability of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to thrive in urban areas. The conduciveness of population size of urban areas and their socioeconomic characteristics are used as predictors of disease incidence, using confirmed-case data on STDs in the USA as a case study.

Results

A superlinear relation between STD incidence and urban population size is found, even after controlling for various socioeconomic aspects, suggesting that doubling the population siz

SUBMITTER: Patterson-Lomba O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4624619 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature