<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To examine the
incidence of
obesity and its modifiable
risk factors in
Chinese adults aged 35-74 years.</p><p><b>
METHODS</b>A total of 27 020 participants
aged 35 to 74 years from two prospective
cohort studies in
China were followed up in the years of 2007 and 2008.
Obesity and
overweight were defined as
body mass index ≥ 28.0, and 24.0-27.9 kg/m(2), respectively.
Relative risks of
obesity for
risk factors were computed by using
logistic regression.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The annual
incidence rates of
obesity and
overweight were 6.97 ‰ and 24.83 ‰ in
Chinese adults aged 35-74 years, respectively.
Women had a higher
incidence of
obesity than
men (7.74 ‰ vs. 6.10 ‰). Participants in northern
China had a higher
incidence than those in southern (9.29 ‰ vs. 5.10 ‰) part of the country.
Adults in rural had a higher
incidence than those in urban (7.28 ‰ vs. 6.52 ‰). After adjusting for the baseline variables, such as
gender, age, geographic region, degree of
urbanization, the
relative risk for
obesity was 0.82 (95% CI0.68-0.99) for participants with ≥ 12 years'
education, compared with those <12 years. Participants with middle
income, less
physical activity at
work/
housework or being retirees, consuming more
red meat and scented
tea etc, had higher
risk of
incidence of
obesity. Participants
who consumed
milk and moderate amount of
fruits, would show a lower
risk of
obesity.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The
incidence of
obesity was 6.97 ‰ in
Chinese middle and older
adults. Our results underscored that the promotion of
healthy lifestyle which include issues as increasing
physical activity, consuming moderate amount of
fruits and
milk but less
red meat,
drinking less scented
tea etc, could
play key
roles in
obesity prevention and control among the
Chinese adults, especially among people with low
education level or with middle
income.</p>