Cardiovascular health in urban Chinese children and adolescents

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death and disease burden in China and worldwide. We aimed to evaluate the status of cardiovascular health among urban Chinese children and adolescents.

We conducted a cross-sectional study comprising 12,618 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years, who were recruited from Chinese urban areas during 2013-2015. The poor, intermediate, and ideal levels of 7 cardiovascular health metrics, including smoking, body mass index, dietary intake, physical activity, blood pressure, blood glucose, and total cholesterol were defined according to revised American Heart Association criteria.

Ideal smoking status was the most prevalent health component (overall, 90.7%; males, 86.3% and females, 95.4%), whereas ideal health diet score (overall, 8.7%; males, 9.1% and females, 8.3%) was the least prevalent among urban Chinese children and adolescents. The majority (overall, 84.9%; males, 82.6% and females, 87.4%) of participants had 3-5 ideal metrics. The overall prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health (i.e. meeting all 7 ideal components) was extremely low (overall, 0.5%; males, 0.5% and females, 0.4%).

The prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health in urban Chinese children and adolescents is extremely low, particularly for physical activity and healthy dietary intake. Effective public health interventions are required to improve cardiovascular health in children and adolescents to reduce future cardiovascular risk. Key messages Ideal health diet score was the least prevalent health component among urban Chinese children and adolescents The prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health in urban Chinese children and adolescents was extremely low Effective public health interventions are required to improve cardiovascular health in children and adolescents to reduce future cardiovascular risk.