Long-term variations of urban-Rural disparities in infectious disease burden of over 8.44 million children, adolescents, and youth in China from 2013 to 2021: An observational study.

A significant urban-rural disparity in notifiable infectious diseases among children, adolescents, and youths was evident from our study. The burden in urban areas exceeded that in rural areas by more than 2-fold, and this gap appears to be widening, particularly influenced by tuberculosis, scarlet fever, infectious diarrhea, and typhus. These findings underscore the urgent need for interventions to mitigate infectious diseases and address the growing urban-rural disparity.