Ten-year cardiovascular risk in a Hong Kong population.
BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular disease is a major health issue in Hong Kong. We conducted a screening program to assess the 10-year risk for the population and to assess the potential benefit of large-scale screening in Hong Kong.


METHODS
A local screening program for cardiovascular risk was carried out in a health service network with a total of 17,716 participants. Retrospective data analysis for the prevalence and distribution of the various risk factors was performed. The data were then applied to calculate the 10-year risk of each individual, according to the European Task Force coronary risk chart.


RESULTS
Of the participants, 54.2% had total cholesterol levels > 5.2 mmol/l; 28.7% had body mass index > 25 kg/m2; 18.5% were hypertensive; 15.1% were smokers; and 3.7% had diabetes mellitus. There were 35.5% of the screened population who had at least two risk factors and 10.9% had at least three risk factors. A total of 9049 individuals satisfied the criteria for the European Task Force guidelines and were selected for 10-year cardiovascular risk analysis. We calculated that 68.0% of the male population had at least 10% risk and 41.5% had at least 20% risk of developing a coronary heart event within 10 years. Among women, 48.2% of the population carried at least 10% risk and 2.8% carried at least 20% risk.


CONCLUSIONS
The calculated 10-year risk of the population, particularly for men, is significant. Our study demonstrated that mass screening is feasible, and has the benefit of early identification of high-risk individuals, which could be a reasonable strategy for cost-effective medicine.
Chan
W K
WK
Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, United Christian Hospital, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Chiu
A
A
Ko
G T
GT
Wu
M F
MF
Liu
F L
FL
Choi
K W
KW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects