Prevalence and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors in adults in Northeast China

Aims To estimate the prevalence and clustering of major cardiovascular risk factors in adults in Northeast China.

Methods In total, 37 141 individuals undergoing a health screening programme at the International Health Promotion Center at the 1st Hospital of Jilin University were enrolled. Height, weight, blood pressure, fasting serum glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein were recorded.

Results Compared with women, the age-standardised prevalence of overweight (44.0% vs 25.0%) and obesity (20.2% vs 7.1%), hypertension (33.7% vs 19.3%), dyslipidaemia (63.8% vs 42.3%), impaired fasting glucose (5.1% vs 4.2%) and diabetes mellitus (8.1% vs 3.5%) was higher in men. Overall, 69.1%, 32.7% and 10.0% of participants had ≥1, ≥2 and ≥3 major cardiovascular risk factors, respectively (obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes mellitus). For men, the figures were 79.2%, 41.1% and 13.3%, respectively, and for women 53.4%, 19.8% and 5.0%, respectively. With increasing age and increasing body mass index, the prevalence of clustering of cardiovascular risk factors increased in both men and women.

Conclusions There is a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in adults in Northeast China: one out of three has at least two risk factors. Prevalence was higher in men than in women. Clustering of risk factors is more common with increasing age and body mass index in both men and women. Prevention of the development of risk factors should be an extremely high priority in this region.