Disparities in Secondary Prevention between Stroke and Coronary Heart Disease in China: Cross-Sectional Community-Based Study, 2014–2016

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Health care quality and insurance coverage have improved with economic development in China, but the burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continues to increase with ongoing gaps in prevention. We aimed to compare the uptake of secondary CVD prevention between stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD) patients in China. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In a cross-sectional community-based survey of 47,841 adults (age ≥45 years) in 7 regions of China between 2014 and 2016, we identified those with a history of stroke or CHD to quantify disparities in conventional secondary CVD prevention strategies in multivariable logistic regression models. <b><i>Results:</i></b> There were 4,105 and 1,022 participants with a history of stroke and CHD, respectively. Compared to participants with CHD, those with a history of stroke were significantly less likely to be taking blood-pressure-lowering (39.7% vs. 53%), lipid-lowering (13.7% vs. 36.8%), and antiplatelet (20.8% vs. 50.6%) agents, at least one (48.9% vs. 70.8%) or all 3 recommended medicines (6.1% vs. 24.0%), and were less likely to achieve a lipid-cholesterol target (30.3% vs. 44.0%). Participants with a history of stroke achieved less optimal secondary prevention goals for medication use, either from any (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.54, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.44–0.66) or all 3 medications (aOR 0.27, 95% CI 0.20–0.36), as well as better blood pressure (aOR 0.81, 95% CI 0.66–0.98) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (aOR 0.34, 95% CI 0.27–0.43) levels of control. There were no significant differences in weight, smoking, or physical activity between the groups. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Stroke patients had lower use of secondary CVD-preventive medication and achieved lower levels of risk factor control than those of CHD patients in China. Nationwide disease-specific strategies, and better education of participants and health care providers, may narrow these gaps.