title: Time Trends in Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Data from three representative health examination surveys in Germany were analyzed to examine secular trends in the prevalence and magnitude of cardiometabolic risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The target variables were the following cardiometabolic risk factors: lack of exercise, smoking, obesity, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, serum glucose, self-reported high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes, and the use of antihypertensive, cholesterol-lowering, and antidiabetic drugs. 9347 data sets from men and 10 068 from women were analyzed. The calculated means and prevalences were standardized to the age structure of the German population as of 31 December 2010 and compared across the three time periods of the surveys: 1990-1992, 1997-1999, and 2008-11.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the entire period of observation (1990-2011), the mean systolic blood pressure fell from 137 to 128 mmHg in men and from 132 to 120 mmHg in women; the mean serum glucose concentration fell from 5.6 to 5.3 mmol/L in men and from 5.4 to 5.0 mmol/l in women; and the mean total cholesterol level fell from 6.2 to 5.3 mmol/L in both sexes. In men, smoking and lack of exercise became less common. On the other hand, the prevalence of use of antidiabetic, cholesterol-lowering, and antihypertensive drugs rose over the same time period, as did that of self-reported diabetes. The first of the three surveys (1990-1992) revealed differences between persons residing in the former East and West Germany in most of the health variables studied; these differences became less marked over time, up to the last survey in 2008-2011.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cardiometabolic risk profile of the German adult population as a whole improved over a period of 20 years. Further in-depth analyses are now planned.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch Institute Berlin.
authors.forename: Jonas D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Finger
authors.forename: Markus A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Busch
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Christin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heidemann
authors.forename: Hildtraud
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Knopf
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuhnert
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lampert
authors.forename: Gert B M
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Mensink
authors.forename: Hannelore K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Neuhauser
authors.forename: Angelika Schaffrath
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Rosario
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scheidt-Nave
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schienkiewitz
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Truthmann
authors.forename: Bärbel-Maria
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kurth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D002784:Cholesterol