Trend of non-communicable disease mortality for three common conditions in the elderly population from 2002 to 2010: A population-based study in China.

OBJECTIVE: There is a lack of data focusing on non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality in the Chinese elderly population over the past decade. METHODS: Using mortality data from the Chinese Health Statistics, we explored the crude and age-standardized mortality trend of three major NCDs in the Chinese population ≥65 years of age from 2002 to 2010, namely, malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases. Subpopulations characterized as rural and urban residence, and by gender and age were examined separately. RESULTS: Mortality increased with age and was higher among males than among females across the three NCDs, with the gender difference being most remarkable for malignant neoplasms and least for heart diseases mortality. Condition-specific crude mortalities increased between 2002 and 2010, overall and in all the pre-specified subpopulations. After age-standardization, rising trends were observed for people ≥65 years old, and condition-specific mortalities generally increased in rural regions and decreased in urban regions, especially for cerebrovascular diseases. CONCLUSIONS: There were increasing trends for mortality due to malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases in China between 2002 and 2010, which were largely driven by the population aging. Disparities existed by rural and urban residence, gender, and age.

Health insurance and household income associated with mammography utilization among American women, 2000 - 2008.

BACKGROUND: National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) has provided free or low-cost mammograms to low-income or no health insurance women in all of the states of the United States (US) since 1997. The objective of this study was to understand whether health insurance and annual household income impacted the mammography utilization since the implementation of NBCCEDP, in order to evaluate how the implementation of NBCCEDP impacted mammography utilization among American women. METHODS: Data were from the database of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) of the CDC in US. Mammography utilization was measured by whether the American woman aged 40 to 64 years had the mammography within the last two years. The chi square test and multivariate Logistic regression were used to evaluate the associations between mammography utilization and health insurance, annual household income, and other factors for any given year. RESULTS: From 2000 to 2008, the rate of mammography utilization among participants had a steady decrease on the whole from 86.7% to 83.8%. The results showed that the mammography utilization correlated significantly with health insurance and annual household income for any given year. The results also showed that compared with participants who were uninsured, those who were insured had a greater times higher rate of mammography in 2008 than any other year from 2000 to 2008, and compared with participants whose annual household income was below $15 000, those whose annual household income was above $50 000 had a greater times higher rate of mammography in 2008 than in 2004 and 2006. CONCLUSIONS: Health insurance and annual household income impacted the mammography utilization for any given year from 2000 to 2008, and the implementation of NBCCEDP has not achieved its original goal on breast cancer screening.

[The association of stroke with high plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level and metabolic syndrome in Chinese adults].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of high plasma LDL-C level with or without metabolic syndrome (MS) on the incidence of stroke in Chinese adults. METHODS: Totally 42 626 subjects (25-75 years old) from Chinese National Health and Nutrition Survey in 2002 were stratified four groups based on plasma LDL-C level:<2.00 mmol/L group, 2.00-2.50 mmol/L group, 2.51-3.31 mmol/L group, and >or=3.32 mmol/L group. The prevalence of MS (with 2005 International Diabetes Federation criteria) and stroke and the risk factors of stroke were compared among the four groups. RESULTS: (1) The prevalence of MS and stroke increased with rising of LDL-C level. The prevalence of MS in LDL-C>or=3.32 mmol/L group increased 2.5 times (7.9% vs 20.1%) as compared with that in LDL-C<2.00 mmol/L group and the prevalence of stroke increased 4.2 times (0.5% vs 2.1%), all P<0.01. (2) In subjects with similar LDL-C level, the prevalence of stroke was significantly higher in a subgroup with MS than that without (P<0.01). (3) After adjustment for age, sex and smoking, logistic regression analysis showed that both LDL-C level and MS were positively associated with the development of stroke; the odds ratio (OR) was 2.35 and 3.15 (P<0.0001), respectively. (4) Compared with the subgroup of LDL-C<2.00 mmol/L without MS, OR for stroke in the subgroups of LDL-C 2.00-2.50 mmol/L, 2.51-3.31 mmol/L, and >or=3.32 mmol/L without MS was 1.03, 1.89, and 2.08, whereas the OR for stroke in the subgroups with MS and similar level of LDL-C was 4.38, 5.23 and 6.15; this indicated that the risk of stroke in subjects with MS increased by 3-4 times compared with subjects without (P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Both high LDL-C level and MS are independent risk factors of stroke, but the risk of stroke will be further increased in the presence of high LDL-C level plus MS. It is suggested that combined intervention therapy of LDL-C and MS will play an important role in the prevention of stroke.

[Do isolated hypertension and metabolic syndrome have equal risk of stroke in Chinese adults?].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze whether isolated hypertension and metabolic syndrome ( Based on the 2005 IDF criteria) have equal risk on stroke in Chinese adults. METHODS: 25194 subjects (25-75 years old) from Chinese National Health and Nutrition Survey in 2002 were divided into control group, isolated hypertension ( i-HTN) group, metabolic syndrome (MS) without hypertension ( non-HTN/MS) group , MS with hypertension (HTN/MS) group. The clinical features and risk for stroke ( using multiple logistic stepwise regression analysis) were compared among 4 groups. RESULTS: (1) The clinic features in the i-HTN group was non-central obesity, and its plasma glucose, triglyceride 9TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol ( HDL-C) levels were normal . (2) The prevalence of stroke in control group , i-HTN group, non-HTN/MS group and HTN/MS group was 0.14%, 1.27%, 1.19% and 2.14%, respectively. (3) After adjustment for age, sex, smoking, low density lipoprotein cholesterol level, logistic regression analysis showed that the i-HTN group, non-HTN/MS group and HTN/MS group had higher risk of stroke compared with the controls, the odd ratio (OR) were 4.18, 8.00, 8.69 (P < 0.01), respectively. Compared with i-HTN group, OR in HTN/MS group was 2.05, while no difference was found between i-HTN group and non-HTN/MS group ( P>0.05). (4) Among different components of the MS, hypertension (OR 2.33), central obesity (OR 2.09), low HDL-C (OR 1.69), hyperglycemia (OR 1.66) except hypertriglyceridemia were all significantly related to stroke (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: (1) MS and hypertension were an independent risk factor for the development of stroke in Chinese adults. (2) Though there was no clinical features of insulin resistance in i-HTN group, it was observed that the i-HTN and non-HTN/MS had equal contribution to stroke. The risk of stroke will be further increased if hypertension included in the MS.

[Influence of smoking on the prevalence of chronic diseases among people with different income levels].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of smoking on chronic diseases among people with various income levels in China. METHODS: Cross-sectional study on smoking behavior, chronic disease and income level was performed using database of the Second National Health Service Study (1998) provided by the Ministry of Health in China. RESULTS: Compared to never-smokers, smokers (including current smokers and former smokers) had a higher rate of having chronic diseases, after adjusted in age, income, educational level, employment status and type of jobs with corresponding countryside (OR = 1.185, 95% CI: 1.121 - 1.253 and town OR = 1.083, 95% CI: 1.010 - 1.161). Smoking had a more serious effect on having chronic illness in males from the countryside (former-smoker OR = 2.764, 95% CI: 2.471 - 3.092) than in town (former-smoker OR = 2.112, 95% CI: 1.844 - 2.419). Smokers at the lowest income level had a higher possibility of having chronic illness (town OR = 2.076, 95% CI: 1.551 - 2.780; countryside OR = 2.903, 95% CI: 2.248 - 3.749) than those at the highest income level (town OR = 1.785, 95% CI: 1.285 - 2.479 in the countryside OR = 2.466, 95% CI: 1.941 - 3.134). CONCLUSION: Smoking might cause more serious health problems to people at lower income level in China.