[Comparison of sub-health status between Tibetan people and Han people].

Objective: To compare the prevalence of sub-health status between Han people and Tibetan people.

Methods: Subjects were selected with two-stage clustering sampling method in Sichuan Province. The sub-health rating scale developed by Chen Qing-shan, et al was employed to assess the sub-health status of subjects. The prevalence of sub-health status was compared between two groups with logistic regression model and binomial regression model after adjusting some confounding factors, such as age, gender, marital status, hypertension, occupation, exercise, overweight, smoking and drinking status.

Results: Prevalence rates of sub-health status were 52.3% (3611/6911) and 57.9% (1034/1787) in Han and Tibetan people respectively. Logistic regression analyses results showed that the risk of sub-health in Tibetan people was 1.2840 times that in Han people (95%CI 1.1460-1.4390). Negative binomial model indicated that the number of sub-health symptoms was greater in Tibetan people and the risk was 1.2908 (95% CI 1.1820-1.4096). Prevalence rates of all sub-health dimensions were higher in Tibetan people.

Conclusions: Tibetan people dwelling in high-altitude areas are more susceptible to suffer from sub-health status. The medical researchers should pay more attention to this problem.