Risk Factors for A Five-Year Death in
The InterASIA-South Cohort
Panapat Tocharoenvanich MD*,
Tada Yipintsoi MB, PhD, FRCP**, Kittisakdi Choomalee BSc**,
Penpan Boonwanno BA*, Amorn Rodklai MD, MPH*
Affiliation :
* Division of Social Medicine, Hat yai Hospital, Hat Yai, Songkhla
** Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla
Objective : To determine the mortality rate and risk factors for death in a selected population in Songkhla
province in southern Thailand.
Material and Method: The southern subjects were part of the Thai cohort which together with the cohort from
China comprised the InterASIA survey which was conducted in the year 2000. Collected variables were the
conventional ones and included the 2 ethnic groups which are specific for southern Thailand, i.e. Malay
Muslims and Thai-Chinese Buddhists. Causes of death were determined by reviewing hospital records, verbal
autopsies and a consensus by 2-3 physicians. Kaplan Meier’s model was used to evaluate the independent
factors related to death.
Results : The follow-up was 5 years. Out of the original 1,006 subjects, the status could be examined in 86%
and of these, 50 had died giving the Kaplan Meier 5-year survival rate of 94.3%. Sixteen died from cardiovas-
cular diseases (CVD), 6 from strokes and 10 from coronary heart disease, and 15 died from cancer. Half of the
deaths occurred in subjects older than 70 years. Independent risks for death were age, hypertension and
diabetes mellitus. Risk for the major causes of death did not include ethnicity. Similar to the only existing
prospective report of risk factors for death in Thailand (the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
study), neither high total cholesterol, high triglyceride nor obesity were independent risks for death from
CVD, but the present study differed in that the high density lipoprotein cholesterol was not found to be a
protective factor for CVD death.
Conclusion : Risk factors for death in a five-year follow-up in Southern Thailand did not include lipids,
ethnicity or urbanization but hypertension and diabetes mellitus did.
Keywords : CVD, cancer, South Thailand, ethnicity
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