Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors clustering among suburban residents in Beijing, China

Background: The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs) has been increasing in urbanization areas of China. The article aims to estimate the up-to-date prevalence and clustering of major modifiable CRFs among suburban residents in Beijing.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey in a representative sample of 16371 suburban residents aged 35 to 74 years was carried out in 2007, and results were compared with counterparts of China and the United States. Data was collected by questionnaires, blood pressure, anthropometric, and laboratory measurements.

Results: The age-standardized prevalence of investigated major CRFs (overweight/obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and current smoking) in the study was 36.2%, 6.5%, 36.9%, 35.4%, and 36.3%, respectively. Overall, 83.5%, 47.2% and 17.5% of participants in the study had ≥1, ≥2, and ≥3 major CRFs, which were higher than total China (80.5%, 45.9%, and 17.2%) and lower than the United State (93.1%, 73.0% and 35.9%), respectively. The adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of ≥1, ≥2, and ≥3 CRFs for men compared with women was 3.4 (3.0 to 3.9), 4.3 (3.7 to 5.0), and 5.4 (4.6 to 6.5), respectively. In addition, older age groups were more likely to have ≥1, ≥2, and ≥3 of these modifiable cardiovascular risk factors compared with younger age groups, respectively.

Conclusions: High prevalence and clustering of major modifiable CRFs are commonly present in suburban residents in Beijing. More effective population-based interventions, such as smoking cessation, healthy diet, increased physical activity are required to reduce the prevalence of these CRFs and the increasing burden of cardiovascular diseases in China.