Objective: To describe the changing trend of serum total cholesterol (TC) in Beijing population aged 25 - 64 years old from 1984 to 1999 and to explore the distributions of hypercholesterolemia in different subgroups.
Methods: From 1984 to 1999, five independent cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk factors surveys with the same protocol were conducted in Beijing population aged 25 - 64 years. Stratified-random sampling was used.
Results: (1) In the period from 1984 to 1999, the mean level of TC increased 1.058 mmol/L (25.1%) in Beijing population aged 25 - 64. The mean level of TC showed increase trends in different genders and age groups, with the greatest increase of 0.998 mmol/L (25.9%) being in the 25 - 34 age group. The mean level of TC was higher in urban subjects than in rural subjects, whereas the increment of TC level was higher in the rural subjects (32.8%) than in urban subjects (26.3%). (2) The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia increased from 6.1% in 1984 to 29.9% in 1999, with 23.8% of the increase during the 15 years. Among different subgroups, both the lowest prevalence of hypercholesterolemia and the greatest increase of hypercholesterolemia prevalence were shown in men aged 25 - 34 years old, with a 16.4 fold increase in 15 years.
Conclusion: The increase trends of mean TC level and hypercholesterolemia prevalence were observed in Beijing population during 1984 - 1999, especially in rural subjects and men aged 25 - 34 years old.