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Allergology Specialty Development and Talent Cultivation in China (2022-2025)
Le Cui1,2,3, Jia Yin1,2,3,4, Yuxiang Zhi1,2,3,4
1Department of Allergy, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China.
Introduction:
To analyze the status of allergology specialty development across seven regions of China from 2022 to 2025, evaluating institutional scale, workforce, service capacity, and regional equity, and to compare with international levels.
Methods:
Two national cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2022 and 2025, covering 502 and 520 hospitals, respectively, across all 31 provinces (seven regions) of mainland China, using the same structured questionnaire. Of these, 87 hospitals (2022) and 139 hospitals (2025) with independent allergology departments were identified as the primary analytical sample. Descriptive statistics with 95% confidence intervals (Wilson method), the population-weighted Gini coefficient, and the coefficient of variation were used to assess development trends and regional disparities.
Results:
Independent allergology departments increased from 87 to 139 (+59.8%), and allergists from 371 to 770 (+107.5%), while the growth rates of nurses (+62.3%) and technicians (+44.8%) were considerably lower than that of physicians. Resources were concentrated in East and North China, which together accounted for 46.8% of departments and 56.8% of physicians. The national tertiary hospital coverage rate was 3.4% (95% CI 2.9-4.0), ranging from 5.8% in Northeast China to 1.1% in Southwest China. The physician-to-nurse ratio was 1:0.68, and the physician-to-technician ratio was 1:0.31. Technical readiness reached 82.7% (93.9% in East vs. 50.0% in Southwest). Master's or doctoral programs were available in 27.3% of departments.
Discussion:
China's allergology specialty has grown rapidly in department numbers and workforce size, yet marked regional disparities persist. The low tertiary hospital coverage (3.4%), the decline in the proportion of departments with master's or doctoral programs (33.3% to 27.3%), and an allergist density far below European levels (approximately 0.055 vs. 1.81 per 100,000 population) highlight the need for regionally tailored workforce planning, expanded tertiary hospital coverage in underserved regions, and strengthened local training capacity.
