Collaborative overview of cohort studies of cardiovascular diseases in the Asia Pacific region

在整个亚洲及太平洋地区，心血管疾病现在是导致死亡和残疾的主要原因。然而，关于这些疾病病因的大多数信息来自于在北美和欧洲进行的研究，来自亚太区域的数据很少。由于西方和东方的心血管疾病模式和危险因素水平有很大不同，不同因素对不同地区疾病发生的相对贡献可能存在重大差异。例如，一项早期的研究表明，血压与中风之间的关联在中国和日本是西方的两倍。启动本项目是为了进一步调查亚太地区人口中常见心血管疾病的原因。它将涉及在该区域至少9个国家进行的40多项研究。这些研究包括50多万人，平均随访8-9年。来自涉及45万人的30项研究的数据已经提供给了申请人。将进行分析，以提供区域、年龄和性别特定的各种风险因素对几种心血管疾病的影响的估计。感兴趣的危险因素包括：血压、总胆固醇及其亚组分、甘油三酯、糖尿病、肥胖、饮酒、职业和教育。除了对血压等既定风险因素的影响提供更精确的估计外，该项目还将提供关于该地区尚未得到充分调查的其他几个风险因素的新数据。研究结果对于确定心血管疾病预防的优先顺序具有重要意义。它们还应与预测该区域各国所面临的心血管疾病流行程度的变化有关。

Throughout Asia and the Pacific, cardiovascular diseases are now a leading cause of death and disability. However, most information about the causes of these diseases comes from studies conducted in North America and Europe, and there are few data available from the Asia Pacific region. Because patterns of cardiovascular diseases and levels of risk factors are very different in the West and East, it is possible that important differences exist in the relative contribution of different factors to disease occurrence in different regions. For example, an earlier project, from which the current study evolved, demonstrated that the association of blood pressure with stroke was about two times steeper in China and Japan than in the West. The present project has been initiated to further investigate the causes of common cardiovascular diseases in populations of the Asia Pacific region. It will involve more than 40 studies conducted in at least 9 countries from the region. These studies include more than 500,000 individuals followed for an average of 8-9 years. Data from 30 studies involving 450,000 individuals has already been provided to the applicants. Analyses will be conducted to provide region-, age-and sex-specific estimates of the effects various risk factors on several types of cardiovascular diseases. The risk factors of interest include: blood pressure, total cholesterol and its subfractions, triglycerides, diabetes, obesity, alcohol consumption, occupation and education. In addition to providing more precise estimates of the effects of established risk factors such as blood pressure, this project will, provide new data on several other risk factors not well investigated in this region. The results should be of importance in determining priorities for cardiovascular disease prevention. They should also be of relevance for predicting changes in the extent of the cardiovascular disease epidemics facing countries in the region.