Prevalence of overweight and smoking in patients with coronary heart disease in rural China

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of overweight and/or smoking patients with coronary artery disease in rural China. Design: A prospective survey with qualitative, open-ended questionnaires. Setting: Tertiary referral centre. Subjects: 158 hospitalised patients (71 men and 87 women) with established coronary heart disease. Main outcome measures: To determine the prevalence of overweight and /or smoking hospitalised patients who had a definitive diagnosis of coronary artery disease and to determine participants understanding of these risk factors. Results: Being overweight and smoking cigarettes were found in 32.7% and 15.2% of the participants, respectively. More than 70% of the overweight participants had neither knowledge nor counselling on their weight before the study. Most smokers believed smoking was harmful to their health and cardiac condition, and had tried unsuccessfully to quit smoking. Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of overweight and/or smoking patients with coronary heart disease. A systematic approach is urgently required to educate patients and primary care physicians, and to improve the management of being overweight and smoking cigarettes.