Epidemiological analysis of marine biotoxin poisoning in China from 2004 to 2023

Guo Chubi; Huang Libing; Ke Dao; Ma Xiaochen; Da Yibin; Zhou Ning

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-1949.2025.06.010

Abstract：Objective Based on clinical literatures on marine biotoxin poisoning published in China from 2004 to 2023,to analyze its epidemiological characteristics and trends.Methods By searching the databases of CNKI,Wanfang,and VIP by using keywords,relevant literatures on marine biotoxin poisoning from 2004 to 2023 were collected.After strict screening,data extraction was performed on the included literatures,covering poisoning areas,the number of cases,age and gender composition of patients,the types of toxic organisms,the causes of poisoning,seasonal distribution and prognosis.Retrospective epidemiological analysis was conducted on the literature cases.Results This article included a total of 94 target literatures,and collected a total of 11 450 cases of marine biotoxin poisoning,covering 13 provinces,municipalities and autonomous regions.Poisoning incidents showed obvious seasonality in time distribution,with summer being the peak period,reaching 84.4％(95％CI 83.4％～85.4％).Jellyfish sting was concentrated from June to September,while sea fish poisoning was concentrated from June to November.In terms of spatial distribution,96.16％of cases occurred in coastal provinces with regional concentration,with jellyfish sting poisoning being the main cause in Hebei province and sea fish poisoning being the most prevalent in Guangdong province.There were 6 740 male and 4 598 female patients with jellyfish poisoning,with a male to female ratio of 1.47∶1.The proportion of children(≤14 years old)with jellyfish poisoning was as high as 59.97％.Excluding cases of jellyfish poisoning,the median age of the poisoned patients was 41.00 years(IQR 37.50-45.36).The highest proportion of marine biotoxin poisoning was jellyfish toxin poisoning(81.15％),followed by tetrodotoxin(6.89％)and ciguatoxin(6.01％),but tetrodotoxin poisoning has the highest mortality rate(3.68％).95.48％of the patients were cured,with an overall mortality rate of 0.71％(95％CI 0.54％to 0.93％).Ciguatoxin poisoning was prone to long-term sequelae.Conclusions The incidents of marine biotoxin poisoning in China have shown regional clustering,seasonal fluctuations and gender differences in reported cases.The existing data indicates that jellyfish are the main source of poisoning,and the distribution of different toxic organisms varies.The type of toxin is significantly correlated with mortality rate.Based on retrospective analysis of multiple databases,its epidemiological characteristics are analyzed to provide data references for improving the regional monitoring and prevention system.