Poor cardiovascular health status among Chinese women

Systematic investigation and analysis of cardiovascular health status (CVHS) of Chinese women is rare. This study aimed to assess CVHS and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) burden in the Chinese women physicians (CWP) and community-based non-physician cohort (NPC).

In this prospective, multicenter, observational study, CVHS using the American Heart Association (AHA) defined 7 metrics (such as smoking and fasting glucose) and ASCVD risk factors including hypertension, hyperlipidemia and type-2 diabetes were evaluated in CWP compared with NPC.

Of 5832 CWP with a mean age of 44 ± 7 years, only 1.2% achieved the ideal CVHS and 90.1% showed at least 1 of the 7 AHA CVHS metrics at a poor level. Total CVHS score was significantly decreased and ASCVD risk burden was increased in postmenopausal subjects in CWP although ideal CVHS was not significantly influenced by menopause. Compared to 2596 NPC, fewer CWP had ≥ 2 risk factors (8% vs. 27%, P < 0.001); CWP scored significantly higher on healthy factors, a composite of total cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting glucose (P < 0.001), but, poorly on healthy behaviors (P < 0.001), specifically in the physical activity component; CWP also showed significantly higher levels of awareness and rates of treatment for hypertension and hyperlipidemia, but, not for type-2 diabetes.

Chinese women's cardiovascular health is far from ideal and risk intervention is sub-optimal. Women physicians had lower ASCVD burden, scored higher in healthy factors, but, took part in less physical activity than the non-physician cohort. These results call for population-specific early and improved risk intervention.