[Gender-specific differences in relative effects of cardiovascular risk factors among rural population]

To investigate the prevalence and association of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors in Fangshan District, Beijing.

A total of 7 577 rural residents aged over 40 years were surveyed to estimate the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors by questionnaire survey, physical examination and biochemical measures. The prevalence odds ratio (POR) was calculated for the association of stroke / coronary heart disease (CHD) with its risk factors in multiple logistic regression models.

Prevalence of CHD, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, overweight and obesity was presented as 6.5%, 4.1%, 10.7%, 39.5%, 56.7%, 44.0% and 13.6%, respectively. In the adjusted multiple logistic regression models, hypertension showed stronger association with stroke (POR=2.780, 95%CI: 2.146-3.602), while diabetes had a higher correlation with CHD (POR=2.671, 95%CI: 2.121-3.363). After stratification by gender, significant risk factors for stroke were overweight / obesity (POR=1.652, 95%CI: 1.122-2.433), body mass index (POR=1.048, 95%CI: 1.002- 1.096), systolic blood pressure (POR=1.017, 95%CI: 1.005-1.030) and serum glucose (POR=1.093, 95%CI: 1.048-1.140) in females, whereas dyslipidemia (POR=1.615, 95%CI: 1.124-2.319), total cholesterol (POR=3.932, 95%CI: 1.533-10.086) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (POR=0.072, 95%CI: 0.022-0.236) were associated with stroke in males.

Highly prevalent cardiovascular risk factors aggravated the burden brought by stroke and CHD in the rural population, and the various risk factors for stroke and CHD exhibited heterogeneous contributions among the population with different gender.