A 21-year retrospective analysis of environmental impacts on paediatric acute gastroenteritis in an affluent setting

Highlights: • Rainfall and high temperature did not show an impact on acute gastroenteritis. • Low temperature and humidity extremes may improve survival of enteric viruses. • Increase in extreme cold days was associated with risk of acute gastroenteritis. • Weather may play a minor role in food and water contamination in affluent societies. • Extreme weather events are likely to distort the seasonality of diarrhoeal diseases. Extreme weather events happen more frequently along with global warming and they constitute a challenge for public health preparedness. For example, many investigations showed heavy rainfall was associated with an increased risk of acute gastroenteritis. In this study, we examined the associations between different meteorological factors and paediatric acute gastroenteritis in an affluent setting in China controlling for pollutant effects.