BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Chronic killers like heart disease, cancer and stroke having long been plaguing the west have now become the top killers of middle-aged Chinese, a survey has found.

   The findings from the study of nearly 170,000 Chinese men and women over age 40 showed that about two-thirds of the 20,033 people who died during the research period were killed by heart disease, cancer or stroke. The conclusions were based on medical data collected in 1991 with follow-up evaluations in 1999 and 2000.

    The study found that Chinese men are slightly more at risk than women, with 68.7 percent of male participants dying from the top three killers compared to 62.6 percent of females.

    High blood pressure was the top preventable contributing factor to the deaths, followed by cigarette smoking, physical inactivity and being underweight.

    Of those deaths involving people in their 40s to mid-60s ¡ª prime working years ¡ª Chinese mortality rates from each of the three categories topped deaths among the same age group in the United States, according to the study.

    The results was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

    China has undergone a huge health transition as more people migrated from farms into cities, physical activity decreased, eating habits changed and smoking increased, said Robert Beaglehole, the World Health Organization's director of chronic diseases.

    The findings also revealed more deaths occurred from the top three chronic diseases in China's rural areas than in cities. Enditem

(Agencies)