Associations between socioeconomic status and cardiovascular risk factors in an urban population in China

Introduction In developed countries socioeconomic status has been proven to be an important factor in the progression of cardiovascular disease. The p resent article reports the results of a cross-sectional assessment to inves tigate the association between socioeconomic status and cardiovascular risk factors in a Chinese urban population. Methods In 1996, a behavioural risk factor survey was carried out in Tianji n, the third largest city in China. A sample of 4000 people aged 15-69 year s, stratified by sex and 10-year age groups, was drawn randomly from urban areas of the city. The present study covers respondents aged 25-69 years (1 615 men and 1592 women). Four socioeconomic indicators (education, occupati on, income, and marital status), blood pressure, body mass index, and cigar ette smoking were determined in the survey. Results Educational level seemed to be the most important measure of the fo ur socioeconomic indicators in relation to the cardiovascular risk factors in the study population. People with lower socioeconomic status had higher levels of cardiovascular risk factors. The association between socioeconomi c status and cardiovascular risk factors was more consistent among women th an men. Discussion Our findings do not seem to differ from those observed in develo ped countries.