Background: It is unclear whether and to what extent there is clustering of cardiovascular risk factors in the prehypertension phase among Mongolians in the rural and animal husbandry area of Inner Mongolia, China.
Methods and results: The 2,589 Mongolian people aged > or=20 years served as subjects. Demographic data, lifestyle factors and family history of hypertension, blood pressure measurements, physical examination and blood samples were obtained and analyzed for all individuals. The proportions of 2 and > or =3 risk factors clustering were higher in hypertensives than in prehypertensives, and higher in prehypertensives than in normotensives (both P<0.01). After adjustment for age, sex and family history of hypertension, both prehypertension and hypertension were associated with mutually clustering of 5 risk factors; odds ratio (OR) of prehypertension with 1, 2 and > or =3 factors was 1.30 (1.02, 1.65), 1.93 (1.40, 2.67) and 2.44 (1.62, 3.68), respectively, and for hypertension the OR were 1.75 (1.31, 2.35), 3.84 (2.68, 5.48) and 6.95 (5.04, 10.63), respectively.
Conclusions: There is clustering of risk factors in the phase of prehypertension among Mongolian people, so intervention measures should be taken to prevent progression to hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.