Scholars at the Harvard School of Public Health report that hypertension, physical inactivity and smoking are the three main “culprits” of the cardiovascular disease epidemic in China, based on data from the China Nutrition Health Survey. The study shows that 47.3% of cardiovascular disease in China is due to hypertension, 23.3% to physical inactivity, and 18.5% to smoking. Hypertension is the most important risk factor in China, causing 3.9 million cardiovascular diseases in 2009, including 1.4 million coronary heart diseases, 1.5 million ischemic strokes and 1 million hemorrhagic strokes. Preventable cardiovascular risk factors in China in 2009 In addition, unhealthy diet, lifestyle habits and other related metabolic risk factors contribute to a large number of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Obesity, hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia cause 13.5%, 13.0% and 11.8% of cardiovascular disease, respectively. Inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, high salt diet, and low polyunsaturated fatty acid intake contribute to 11.1%, 7.1%, and 3.5% of cardiovascular disease, respectively. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that in 2010, the four poor lifestyles of unhealthy diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity cost 94.28 million Chinese an average of one year less life. And based on the 2002 China Nutrition and Health Survey data, hypertension, physical inactivity, and cardiovascular disease due to smoking also ranked among the top three, at 78.0%, 18.8%, and 20.9%, respectively. Obesity, hyperlipidemia, and low polyunsaturated fatty acid intake caused 21.9%, 8.2%, 16.1%, 12.0%, 20.3%, and 2.0% of cardiovascular disease, respectively. The researchers found that there were significant gender differences in cardiovascular disease due to smoking, with 27.8% of cardiovascular disease originating from smoking in the male population, compared to 6.5% in the female population.