Overweight: Current Status, Trends, And Its Relation To Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Middle-aged Chinese Population Samples

Purposes:As part of a National 8th Five-Year Key Project: Comparative Study of Risk Factors Levels and Trends Among Populations with High and Low Prevalence of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases, the purposes of this study are as follows:1) To obtain information on status of overweight(and obesity), one of the major cardiovascular risk factors in developed countries, among middle-aged Chinese populations with different geographical, occupational, social and economic backgrounds.2) To estimate the trends of overweight(and obesity) among these populations quantitatively, in comparison with data from 80s, and to predict the trends in the future 10-20 years.3) To study the cross-sectional correlation of body mass index(BMI) to other cardiovascular risk factors, especially to the clustering of these factors in a relatively thin population of China.4) To try to understand the discrepancies between non-overweight hypertensives and overweight hypertensives in terms of potential risk factors and the strength of associations of hypertension to these factors, providing scientific insights for effective control and prevention of hypertension.Methods:Fourteen urban or rural samples, each having about 1000 participants, half men and half women, aged 35-59 years, were drawn from populations of different geographical area in China, with different occupations, including Beijing Capital Iron and Steel Complex factory workers, Beijing Shijingshan District farmers, Beijing West District residents, Hebei Qian iron miners, Shanxi Yuxian County farmers, Jiangsu Jingtan farmers, Zhejiang Zhoushan fishermen, Guangxi Wuming farmers, Heilongjiang Haerbin residents, Shaanxi Hanzhong farmers, Sichuan...