Objective  To examine the prevalence and influencing factors of being at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among adult residents living in old urban regions of Guangzhou city and to provide evidences for implementing related interventions in the population.

  Methods  From 2017 to 2018, we conducted a survey, including questionnaire interview, physical examination and laboratory test, for identifying individuals at high CVD risk among 4 904 permanent residents aged 35 – 75 years recruited using cluster sampling in an old urban region of Guangzhou city, Guangdong province. In this study, the high CVD risk is defined as having one of following four indicators: CVD history, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and with a 20% of probability for suffering from CVD within next 10 years based on the standards recommended by World Health Organization. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were adopted to explore influencing factors of CVD risk and its detection among the residents.

  Results  Among the 4 892 participants (mean age = 58.83 ± 8.31years) completing the survey, the age- and gender-adjusted detection rate of with a high CVD risk was 15.17% and the adjusted detection rate of CVD history, hypertension type, dyslipidemia, with a 20% of probability for suffering from CVD within next 10 years were 2.13%, 6.68%, 6.82%, and 1.69%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that the participants aged 55 – 64 and 65 – 75 years were more likely to be detected with high CVD risk, with odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval 95% CI) of 1.74 (1.20 – 2.53) and 2.67 (1.82 – 3.92). For the participants, significant factors positively associated with the detection of high CVD risk included overweight (OR = 1.36, 95% CI : 1.16 – 1.60), obesity (OR = 1.80, 95% CI : 1.43 – 2.26), current smoking (OR = 1.35, 95% CI : 1.07 – 1.71), and alcohol drinking during past one year (OR = 1.24, 95% CI : 1.05 – 1.47). While underweight was a factor reversely related to the detection of high CVD risk.

  Conclusion  More effective interventions on body weight control, unhealthy lifestyle and dyslipidemia should be promoted among middle aged and elder community residents for cardiovascular disease prevention.