Cold weather and Kashin-Beck disease

Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) is an endemic osteoarthropathy. Its distribution region covers a long and narrow belt on the Pacific side and belongs to continental climate with short summer, long frost period, and large temperature differences between day and night. In particular, KBD patients are typically scattered in the rural areas with seasonal features such as cold winters and rainy autumns. Etiological studies have demonstrated that the carrier of pathogenic factors is the grains produced in endemic areas. Risk factors for KBD include fungal contamination of grains due to poor storage conditions associated with cold weather. The epidemiological characteristics of KBD include agricultural area, early age of onset, gender equality, family aggregation, regional differences, and annual fluctuations. A series of preventive measures have been successfully taken in the past decades. National surveillance data indicate that the annual incidence of KBD is gradually declining.