Impact of healthy lifestyles on risk of hypertension in the Chinese population: finding from SHUN-CVD study.

Introduction: Lifestyle factors are known to play a role in the development of hypertension. We aimed to study the relationship between lifestyle and hypertension in a Chinese population.

Methods: This study involved 3,329 participants (1,463 men and 1,866 women) aged 18-96 years in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong United Network on Cardiovascular Disease. A healthy lifestyle score was derived from 5 factors: no smoking, no alcohol consumption, active physical activity, normal body mass index, and a healthy diet. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate the relationship between lifestyle score and hypertension. The influence of each lifestyle component on hypertension was also assessed.

Results: In the overall population, 950 (28.5%) participants had hypertension. The risk of hypertension decreased with increasing healthy lifestyle scores. Compared with participants with the lowest score (score: 0), the multivariable odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals for participants with scores 3, 4, and 5 were 0.65 (0.41-1.01), 0.62 (0.40-0.97), and 0.37 (0.22-0.61), respectively (P for trend <0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, and diabetes, the score was associated with hypertension risk (P for trend = 0.005). Compared with a lifestyle score of 0, the adjusted OR for hypertension for participants with a score of 5 was 0.46 (0.26-0.80).

Conclusions: The risk of hypertension is inversely related to the healthy lifestyle score. This reinforces the need to address lifestyle to reduce the risk of hypertension.