Association between self-rated health status and risk of stroke in Chinese adults: a prospective study

Abstract

Objective: To explore the relationship between self-rated health status and risk of stroke in Chinese adults. Methods: Data was collected from the Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance in China (2010) as baseline. A total of 60 follow-up monitors (25 urban and 35 rural) in 11 provinces were selected. A total of 36 195 participants without prior cardiovascular diseases were followed and investigated 27 441 people in 2016 and 2017. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to analyze the self-assessed health status and stroke onset hazard ratio (HR), further conducted several subgroup analyses by demographic characteristics such as age and gender, and sensitivity analysis was performed by excluding death and baseline diabetes. Results: A total of 26 699 study subjects were included according to the inclusion criteria. We identified 1 332 stroke cases (32 subarachnoid hemorrhage, 197 cerebral hemorrhage, and 1 149 cerebral infarction) during an average of 6.4 years (171 431.1 person-years) of follow-up, and the incidence density was 7.77/1 000 person-years. After adjusting the related factors, the risk of stroke in participants with poor self-related health increased by 68% (HR=1.68, 95%CI:1.22-2.32) and the risk of ischemic stroke increased by 47% (HR=1.47, 95%CI:1.05-2.05), with a reference of excellent ones. In subgroup analysis, only age and BMI had an effect-modifying effect on the association between self-rated health and risk of stroke. Only age and dyslipidemia had an effect-modifying effect on the association between self-rated health and ischemic stroke risk (interaction P<0.05). The results of the sensitivity analysis were consistent with the results of the total population. Conclusion: People with poor self-assessed health, especially for those who were overweight/obesity with poor self-assessed health or age less than 60 or dyslipidemia are at increased risk of stroke and ischemic stroke and should be targeted for intervention.