Heart disease on the increase due to western lifestyle shift
Print Edition
CHINA is facing an epidemic of heart disease brought on by a shift toward the Western lifestyle, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down, according to a study.
The findings in the August 15 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology are based on the first large study of its kind to analyze a range of risk factors in China over multiple decades.
Heart disease has been on the rise in China over the past 20 years, with more and more people experiencing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood glucose, being overweight, smoking and lack of exercise.
Decreasing physical activity, a high prevalence of smoking, and unhealthy diet have also contributed to the growing burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) — now the leading cause of death in China, said the study.
The study analyzed data on 26,000 people living in nine Chinese provinces from 1991 to 2011 as part of the China Health and Nutrition Survey, and projected how these trends might play out from 2011 to 2031.
They looked at dietary and lifestyle risk factors that have been previously linked with heart attack and stroke, and analyzed that data along with information on CVD-related disease and death incidence extracted from the China Health Statistical Yearbook and the National Population Census.
“Our estimates suggest that the continued rise in high blood pressure, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, increasing obesity, and worsening dietary trends will add millions of new cases of heart attacks and stroke over the next two decades,” said lead author Yanping Li, research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The study traced most of the heart disease cases in China in 2011 to high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood glucose, leading to some 5 million new cases of heart attack or stroke.
High blood pressure was the biggest culprit, linked to about 40 percent of heart attacks or stroke in the most recent year of data, 2011.
High blood pressure in China has risen from 7.7 percent of the population in 1979 to 33.5 percent in 2010, on par with levels seen in the United States.
Of 6.8 million Chinese over age 35 who died in 2011, about 3 million of those deaths — or 44 percent — were related to cardiovascular disease.
Smoking and lack of exercise were also linked to rising heart disease.
The researchers also noted that while Chinese eat more fiber, fruit, nuts, and omega-3 fatty acids, consumption of red meat and sugary beverages is increasing.
High sodium intake, which averaged 5.4 grams per day in 2011, was estimated to be responsible for one fifth of CVD cases in China.
“China is facing a rising epidemic of cardiovascular disease and it shows no sign of abating,” said senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School.
“It’s imperative to continue to monitor the problem.”
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