Prevalence and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors among healthy adults in a Chinese population: the MJ Health Screening Center Study in Taiwan

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To gain insight into the prevalence and clustering of multiple cardiovascular risk factors in a healthy Chinese adult population in Taiwan. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 1996. SUBJECTS: A total of 46 603 subjects (23 485 men and 23 118 women) who were aged 20 -59 y and attended a private health screening center for health examination of their own volition. MEASUREMENTS: Multiple cardiovascular risk factors including cigarette smoking, overweight (23 kg=m 2 body mass index (BMI) < 25 kg=m 2 ) and obesity (BMI ! 25 kg=m 2 ), lipid disorder (a ratio of total cholesterol level to the level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol > 5 or use of lipid-lowering drugs), hypertension (systolic blood pressure ! 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ! 90 mmHg or use of anti-hypertensive medications), and diabetes mellitus (fasting serum plasma glucose level ! 126 mg=dl or use of anti-diabetic medications) were determined. RESULTS: In comparison to women, men had a higher prevalence of current smoking (42.1 vs 5.6%), overweight (25.1 vs 17.1%) and obesity (33.1 vs 21.5%), lipid disorder (45.1 vs 19.6%), hypertension (17.4 vs 13.2%), as well as diabetes mellitus (4.1 vs 3.4%). The prevalence of men or women having two or more of the cardiovascular risk factors of interest was 54.3 and 21.7%, respectively. With advancing age, the prevalence of risk factors became greater for both genders. More importantly, the clustering of risk factors increased monotonically with increasing BMI levels for men and women. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors are commonplace in this healthy Chinese adult population. Considering the significant association between clustering of risk factors under study and BMI levels, this study gives an indication that population-based multifactorial interventions may work out favorably for specific groups.

Prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus of Chinese populations in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

“…Twenty-one studies were conducted in Mainland China [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29] and [30] (1978-2003), four studies were conducted in Hong Kong [31], [32], [33] and [34] (1987-1996), and 10 studies in Taiwan [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43] and [44] (1985-2001). The details of the studies are shown in Table 2.…”

Trends in the association between blood pressure and obesity in a Taiwanese population between 1996 and 2006

“…Details of the MJ healthscreening scheme and data collection have been described elsewhere. 10,20 Weight and height were measured by an auto-anthropometer, Nakamura KN-5000A (Nakamura, Tokyo, Japan). Weight was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg with subjects barefoot and wearing light indoor clothing.…”

“…7,8 With the continuing increases in general well-being and standard of living, it is expected that the problem of obesity will further increase. 9 Although obesity has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, [10][11][12][13] it is not yet clear whether the increased prevalence of obesity in the Taiwanese population in the last 30 years is reflected by increased risk of chronic disease. Because of rapid economic and population growth, the living environment (for example affordability and availability of food, transportation, housing) has been transformed dramatically, and the mismatch between foetal programming and the subsequent environment may therefore cause health problems in later life.…”

The impact of socioeconomic status on the incidence of metabolic syndrome in a Taiwanese health screening population

“…With regard to socioeconomic status, the participants were classified into four levels of education, according to the highest attained: middle school or lower, high school, junior college, and college or higher. Individual annual income was divided into three levels: less than 400 thousand, 400-1,600 thousand, and 1,600 thousand and above (New Taiwan dollars) (Wu et al 2001). Occupation was classified as professional, manual, or others.…”