摘要：Objectives. We report on trends in risk factors for lifestyle-related diseases among socioeconomic position (SEP) groups. Methods. We continuously surveyed the adult population of Geneva, Switzerland, for 8 years (1993–2000) with independent, cross-sectional surveys of representative samples (4207 men and 3987 women aged 35–74 years). Age-adjusted linear regression slopes estimated annual risk factor trends. Interaction terms were tested for trend differences between SEP groups. Results. Overall, low-SEP persons had the worst risk factor profiles. Eight-year trends indicate that (1) number of pack-years smoked decreased by half a pack-year among high-SEP female current smokers only; (2) obesity prevalence more than doubled from 5% to 11% among high-SEP men only; (3) systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased similarly in all SEP groups; (4) unsaturated-to-saturated dietary fat ratio declined in the low-SEP group only; and (5) physical inactivity and current/former cigarette smoking prevalences remained unchanged in all SEP groups. Conclusions. Smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, and physical inactivity are more prevalent among low-SEP persons. Most socioeconomic risk factor differences remained stable in the 1990s. Thus, social inequalities in chronic disease morbidity and mortality will persist in the next decades. Chronic lifestyle-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer, account for millions of deaths each year and are the leading causes of mortality in industrialized countries. 1 Overall mortality rates have decreased in most industrialized countries, 2 and trends in risk factors explain part of this general decrease. 2– 4 However, concurrent social inequalities in mortality rates have increased. 5 The paradox is that social disparities in mortality rates do not seem to be paralleled by increasing gaps at the risk factor level. 6– 9 The latency period between exposure to risk factors and changes in mortality rates can explain part of the apparent discrepancy in their trends, but other methodological issues are also to likely play a role. Most health surveillance systems have long time spans between surveys, limiting their ability to disentangle small risk factor changes from seasonal and sampling fluctuations. A thorough understanding of the relation between risk factors and disease requires long-term commitments to surveillance and monitoring efforts. 10, 11 The objective of this study was to assess whether trends in the main risk factors for lifestyle-related diseases differed by socioeconomic position (SEP) in Geneva, Switzerland, in the last decade. A continuous surveillance system enabled us to report reliable trends in risk factors from 1993 through 2000.
