Objectives: To identify and quantify major external (non-genetic) factors that contribute to death in Chaoyang District of Beijing, China in 2007.
Methods: The death registration data reported to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention of Chaoyang District of Beijing, China, during the year 2007, were obtained. The analysis was conducted in 2009 using the health risk factors identified by the World Health Report 2002 and the population attributable fractions of mortality from Global burden of disease and risk factors. The estimates of actual causes of death attributable to each risk factor were calculated by multiplying the population attributable fractions of mortality by the corresponding number of deaths of the subgroup or total population.
Results: The five leading actual causes of death in Chaoyang District of Beijing, China in 2007 were high blood pressure (2159 deaths, 18%), smoking (990, 8%), low fruit and vegetable consumption (968, 8%), high cholesterol (891, 7%), and physical inactivity (629, 5%). The pattern and ordering of these leading causes vary with sex and age specific subgroups.
Conclusions: More than half of the total number of deaths in Chaoyang District in 2007 could be attributed to a few major preventable risk factors. Although the study focused on only one district of Beijing in one single year, and is by no means comprehensive, its findings suggest that public health policies and programmes in China should address these public health concerns by focusing on these largely preventable risk factors for primary prevention.