Lifestyle improvement and the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease: the China-PAR project.

BACKGROUND: The benefits of healthy lifestyles are well recognized. However, the extent to which improving unhealthy lifestyles reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk needs to be discussed. We evaluated the impact of lifestyle improvement on CVD incidence using data from the China-PAR project (Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China). METHODS: A total of 12,588 participants free of CVD were followed up for three visits after the baseline examination. Changes in four lifestyle factors (LFs) (smoking, diet, physical activity, and alcohol consumption) were assessed through questionnaires from the baseline to the first follow-up visit. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The risk advancement periods (RAPs: the age difference between exposed and unexposed participants reaching the same incident CVD risk) and population-attributable risk percentage (PAR%) were also calculated. RESULTS: A total of 909 incident CVD cases occurred over a median follow-up of 11.14 years. Compared with maintaining 0-1 healthy LFs, maintaining 3-4 healthy LFs was associated with a 40% risk reduction of incident CVD (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.45-0.79) and delayed CVD risk by 6.31 years (RAP: -6.31 [-9.92, -2.70] years). The PAR% of maintaining 3-4 unhealthy LFs was 22.0% compared to maintaining 0-1 unhealthy LFs. Besides, compared with maintaining two healthy LFs, improving healthy LFs from 2 to 3-4 was associated with a 23% lower risk of CVD (HR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.60-0.98). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term sustenance of healthy lifestyles or improving unhealthy lifestyles can reduce and delay CVD risk.

Association between Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Arterial Stiffness: The China-PAR Project.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between fruit and vegetable intake and arterial stiffness. Methods: We conducted a cohort-based study comprising 6,628 participants with arterial stiffness information in the Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China (China-PAR) project. A semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire was used to assess baseline (2007-2008) and recent (2018-2021) fruit and vegetable intake. We assessed changes in fruit and vegetable intake from 2007-2008 to 2018-2021 in 6,481 participants. Arterial stiffness was measured using the arterial velocity-pulse index (AVI) and arterial pressure-volume index (API). Elevated AVI and API values were defined according to diverse age reference ranges. Results: Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models revealed that every 100 g/d increment in fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a 0.11 decrease in AVI ( B= -0.11; 95% confidence interval [ CI]: -0.20, -0.02) on average, rather than API ( B = 0.02; 95% CI: -0.09, 0.13). The risk of elevated AVI (odds ratio [ OR] = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.97) is 18% lower in individuals with high intake (≥ 500 g/d) than in those with low intake (< 500 g/d). Furthermore, maintaining a high intake in the past median of 11.5 years of follow-up was associated with an even lower risk of elevated AVI compared with a low intake at both baseline and follow-up ( OR = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.49, 0.83). Conclusion: Fruit and vegetable intake was negatively associated with arterial stiffness, emphasizing recommendations for adherence to fruit and vegetable intake for the prevention of arterial stiffness.

Associations of tea consumption with blood pressure progression and hypertension incidence.

BACKGROUND: Association between tea consumption and incident hypertension remains uncertain. This study conducted to examine the health effects of tea consumption on blood pressure progression and hypertension incidence. METHODS: A population-based cohort of 38,913 Chinese participants without hypertension at baseline were included in the current study. Information on tea consumption was collected through standardized questionnaires. Associations of tea consumption with blood pressure progression and incident hypertension were analyzed using logistic regression models and Cox proportional hazards regression models, respectively. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 5.9 years, 17,657 individuals had experienced progression to a higher blood pressure stage and 5,935 individuals had developed hypertension. In multivariate analyses, habitual tea drinkers (≥ 3 times/week for at least six months) had a 17% lower risk for blood pressure progression [odds ratio (OR) = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.79-0.88] and a 14% decreased risk for incident hypertension [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.80-0.91] compared with non-habitual tea drinkers. Individuals in different baseline blood pressure groups could obtain similar benefit from habitual tea drinking. In terms of tea consumption amount, an inverse, linear dose-response relation between monthly consumption of tea leaves and risk of blood pressure progression was observed, while the risk of incident hypertension did not reduce further after consuming around 100 g of tea leaves per month. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that habitual tea consumption could provide preventive effect against blood pressure progression and hypertension incidence.

Effects of the total physical activity and its changes on incidence, progression, and remission of hypertension.

OBJECTIVES: Moderate to vigorous physical activity is recommended to prevent hypertension according to the current guidelines. However, the degree to which the total physical activity (TPA) and its changes benefit normotensives and hypertensives is uncertain. We aimed to examine the effects of TPA and its changes on the incidence, progression, and remission of hypertension in the large-scale prospective cohorts. METHODS: A total of 73,077 participants (55,101 normotensives and 17,976 hypertensives) were eligible for TPA analyses. During a mean follow-up of 7.16 years (394,038 person-years), 12,211 hypertension cases were identified. TPA was estimated as metabolic equivalents and categorized into quartiles. Cox proportional hazards regression and multivariable logistic regression were used to estimate associations of TPA and changes in TPA with incident hypertension and progression/remission of hypertension. RESULTS: Compared with the lowest quartile of TPA, normotensives at the third and the highest quartile had a decreased risk of incident hypertension, with hazard ratios (HRs) of 0.86 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.81-0.91] and 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77-0.86), respectively. Hypertensives at the highest quartile of TPA demonstrated a decreased risk of progression of hypertension [odds ratio (OR) = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.79-0.95], and an increased probability of hypertension remission (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.05-1.29). Moreover, getting active from a sedentary lifestyle during the follow-up period could reduce 25% (HR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.58-0.96) risk of incident hypertension, whereas those becoming sedentary did not achieve benefit from initially being active. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that increasing and maintaining TPA levels could benefit normotensives, whereas higher TPA levels were needed to effectively control progression and improve remission of hypertension. Physical activity played undoubtedly an essential role in both primary and secondary prevention of hypertension.

Beneficial effects of moderate to vigorous physical activity on cardiovascular disease among Chinese adults.

BACKGROUND: In China, lack of evidence remains a significant challenge for the national initiative to promote physical activity (PA). We aimed to quantify the beneficial effects of meeting or maintaining the recommended PA level [150 minutes per week (min/wk) of moderate PA or 75 min/wk of vigorous PA or an equivalent combination] on incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Chinese population. METHODS: We included 100,560 participants without history of CVD from three cohorts in the Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China (China-PAR) project. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CVD events and its subtypes, including stroke, coronary heart disease, heart failure, and CVD death. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 7.3 years (range: 6-15 years), 777,163 person-years and 4693 incident CVD events were observed. Compared with participants who were inactive at baseline, the multivariable adjusted HR (95% CI) of developing CVD was 0.74 (0.69-0.79) for those who met recommended moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level at baseline. Furthermore, the risk of CVD incidence was reduced with increment of MVPA (P trend < 0.001), and the HR (95% CI) of highly-active versus inactive category was 0.62 (0.56-0.68). Compared with individuals who were inactive both at the baseline and follow-up, those keeping active over the period of follow-up had a substantial lower risk of incident CVD with the HR (95% CI) of 0.57 (0.43-0.77). CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrated that meeting and maintaining the recommended MVPA level could reduce the cardiovascular risk. Wider adoption of the PA recommendations would have considerable health impacts to the Chinese population.