The prevalence of soil transmitted helminths and its influential factors in Shandong Province, China: an analysis of surveillance data from 2016 to 2020

Background Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) were previously endemic in Shandong Province, China. This study aimed to analyze the STHs prevalence trend and the natural, social, and human cognitive and behavioural factors influencing the discrepancies between high and low infection levels from 2016 to 2020 in Shandong Province in eastern China. Methods STHs surveillance data of Shandong Province from 2016 to 2020 were obtained from China Information Management System for Prevention and Control of Parasitic Diseases. STHs infections were detected by modified Kato–Katz method. Comprehensive information on the natural and social factors, STHs-related knowledge and behaviours were collected through questionnaire surveys. Retrospective spatial scan analysis was performed using SaTScan v10.1 to evaluate any identified spatial clusters of STHs infection for statistical significance and Bayes discriminant analysis was used to discriminate the high or low infection groups of the villages. Results In total, 72,160 participants were involved in our survey from 2016 to 2020. The overall STHs prevalence rate was 1.13