The health status of 623 elderly people aged 60 years and over in different residential areas of Beijing was investigated. Among them 289 lived in the Xuanwu district, an urban area, 194 lived in a suburb area of Beijing, the Daxing county and 140 lived in a mountain area of the Huairou county. It was found that the prevalence rates of overweight (BMI 24-27) and obesity (BMI > or = 28), hyperlipidemia and diabetes in urban residents were much higher than that in the suburb and mountain residents (P < 0.01 and 0.05, respectively). The rate of obesity is higher in female than in male (P < 0.05). The rates of overweight and obesity decreased with increase of age (P < 0.001). In subjects with overweight and obesity the rates of hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetes were higher than those in the subjects without (P < 0.001). The detected rates of coronary heart disease and calcified valvular heart disease between the four groups with different body weight did not differ significantly.