title: Prevalence of valvular heart diseases and associated risk factors in Han, Uygur and Kazak population in Xinjiang, China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Valvular heart diseases (VHD) is very common in clinical practice and has became the subject of growing attention in the field of cardiovascular medicine. Our aim was to assess the prevalence and correlates of VHD in the general population in Xinjiang, China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a 4-stage stratified cluster random sampling method, a total of 14618 participants were recruited in the Cardiovascular Risk Survey (CRS) study. The participants' personal information, medical history were assessed by questionnaire. VHD was diagnosed by transthoracic echocardiography. We carried out the statistical analysis utilizing SPSS Statistics version 19.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the total study group, VHD was observed in 1397 (9.65%) individuals. The prevalence rates of VHD in Han, Uygur and Kazak group are 13.51%, 2.71% and 12.29% respectively. The prevalence rates of VHD increased strikingly with age (all P < 0.001). The results of multinomial regression analysis indicated that VHD were related to age in Han group, to age smoking and hypertension in Uygur group, to age and hypertension in Kazak group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our research provides a unique prevalence rate of VHD in Xinjiang natural population. The result suggests that VHD are notably common in this population (9.65%) and increase with age. There exists significant difference of prevalence rate between ethnics. The main risk factors of VHD are age, hypertension and smoking. Valvular heart diseases should be regarded as a serious and growing public-health problem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yong-Tao
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ailifeire
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maimaiti
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Dilare
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yi-Ning
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Fen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bang-Dang
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, P. R. China.|Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Research, Urumqi, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yi-Tong
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3131-864X
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors