The epidemiological characteristics of obesity among the Chinese elderly population and its attributable fractions for chronic diseases / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of obesity and its relationships to five common chronic diseases among the Chinese elderly population.Methods In 2013,The 4th Chronic Non-communicable Disease & Risk Factor Surveillance in China was conducted in 31 provinces.A multistage cluster sampling method was used at 298 National Disease Surveillance Points(DSPs).A total of 51778 adults aged 60 and over received a standardized questionnaire,physical examinations,and laboratory tests for blood lipid & glucose levels.The body mass index(BMI)was used for obesity measurement and waist circumference(WC)for central obesity measurement.After weighting adjustment of the sample,the prevalence of obesity and central obesity was compared between different genders,among different age groups,and among different regions.The unconditional Logistic regression model was applied to analyze the relationships of five selected chronic diseases with BMI and WC.Population attributable fractions (AFP)were also calculated.Results Among the elderly,the prevalence of obesity and central obesity was 13.2 ％ and 55.4 ％,respectively.Both were higher in women(16.3％ and 64.4％)than in men(9.9％ and 46.0％)and higher in the urban areas (15.6％ and 62.0％) than in the rural areas (12.0％ and 52.1％) (all P ＜ 0.05).The increased prevalence of five common chronic diseases was correlated with increased BMI and WC(all P＜0.05).After adjustment for confounders,obesity was associated with increased prevalence of hypertension,diabetes,dyslipidemia,and stroke (ORs1.43-2.68,AFP s0.05-0.18);central obesity was associated with increased prevalence of the five chronic diseases (ORs1.35-1.88,AFPs0.16-0.33)Conclusions High prevalence of obesity and central obesity can be seen in aged women and the urban elderly population.Obesity and central obesity are both related to hypertension,diabetes,dyslipidemia,and stroke.Besides,central obesity is also associated with myocardial infarction.