title: Trends in health indicators in the urban middle-aged population in the Czech Republic in 1998-2010.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To track the trends in general health indicators and the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), high blood pressure and elevated blood cholesterol in the middle-aged urban population in the Czech Republic in 1998-2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The following data from the three-phase HELEN (HEalth - Lifestyle - ENvironment) study, a prevalence questionnaire survey, were analysed: data collected from 8214 subjects in phase I, 6107 subjects in phase II, and 4389 subjects in phase III. The study subjects were aged 45-54 years and the study period spanned from 1998 to 2010. The differences in the indicators between phases were evaluated by binary and ordinal logistic regression models at a significance level of 0.01.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the study period, a significant increase was observed in the proportion of respondents who self-rated their health as very good or good: from 46.6% to 51.0% in males (P = 0.006) and from 45.5% to 49.9% in females (P < 0.001). At the same time, the rates of respondents under long-term medical follow-up rose significantly from 36.3% to 44.3% (P < 0.001) and from 46.4% to 56.2% (P < 0.001), respectively. CVD prevalence did not change although the percentage of males and females with high blood pressure (from 29.3% to 36.6% and from 26.0% to 31.2%, respectively) and elevated total cholesterol (from 29.0% to 36.6% and from 27.3% to 32.4%, respectively) increased significantly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-rated health among the middle-aged population in the Czech Republic improved during the 1998-2010 period, but, at the same time, more people needed to be followed up for a disease. The proportions of respondents with hypertension and elevated blood cholesterol increased while the CVD rates did not vary significantly.
authors.affiliation: The National Institute of Public Health, Environmental and Population Health Monitoring, Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address: zejglicova@atlas.cz.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Žejglicová
authors.affiliation: The National Institute of Public Health, Environmental and Population Health Monitoring, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kratěnová
authors.affiliation: The National Institute of Public Health, Environmental and Population Health Monitoring, Prague, Czech Republic; Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lustigová
authors.affiliation: The National Institute of Public Health, Unit for Biostatistics and Informatics, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malý
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: CVD prevalence; Czech Republic; Health status