Cardiovascular Risk Factors and its Transition: An Ongoing Cohort Study in Chinese Kazakhs

Abstract

Studies on the prevalence of risk factors and the incidence for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are limited in Kazakh population. By incorporating nomads, farmers, and urban residents, aged 30 years or older, in a cohort study, we investigated the characteristics of cardiovascular risk factors and their temporal trends that arose from the urbanization and subsequent changes in the lifestyle in a Kazakh population with 1668 participants. We used current guidelines and the monitoring trends and determinants in cardiovascular disease (MONICA) standard to define cardiovascular events. Kazakhs had a high prevalence rate of hypertension (45.3%), and this prevalence was much higher than the national average in China. Prevalence of two or more risk factors was highest among urban people and lowest among nomads. Urban residents have the highest prevalence of hypercholesterolemia and obesity compared with farmers and nomads. However, unlike other studies, our data indicate that young men had the highest prevalence of dyslipidemia, and it decreased significantly thereafter. Crude rates of incidence and mortality for acute cardiovascular events were 742 and 194 per 100,000 people, respectively; the standardized rates were 926 and 272 per 100,000 people, respectively. The findings from this study demonstrate the pervasive burden of cardiovascular risk factors and the related acute cardiovascular events in Kazakhs, particularly BP in Kazakh nomads.