Only 1 in 5 people in the U.S. has optimal heart health: American Heart Association

2022 JUL 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- DALLAS, - About 80% of people in the U.S. have low to moderate cardiovascular health based on the American Heart Association’s new Life’s Essential 8™ checklist according to a new study published in Circulation, the Association’s flagship, peer-reviewed journal. Life’s Essential 8™, also published in Circulation, details the Association’s updated guidance to measure cardiovascular health, adding healthy sleep as essential for ideal heart and brain health.

The Life’s Essential 8™ metrics are incorporated into the Association’s My Life Check tool to determine a cardiovascular health score based on eight essential components for ideal heart and brain health: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep duration, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose and blood pressure. It is an updated algorithm from the scientifically proven Life’s Simple 7™, which did not include sleep heath. Life’s Essential 8™ also updated some of the previous version’s metrics to be more sensitive to differences among groups of people. In adults, overall cardiovascular health is calculated for each individual by summing the scores for each of the 8 metrics together and dividing the total by 8, to provide a Life’s Essential 8™ score ranging from 0-100. Thus, the highest or healthiest cardiovascular health score possible is 100. Overall scores below 50 indicate “low” cardiovascular health, 50-79 is considered “moderate” and scores of 80 and above indicate “high” cardiovascular health.

According to this first study using Life’s Essential 8™ as the measure for cardiovascular health, among more than 23,400 U.S. adults and children free of cardiovascular disease, the overall cardiovascular health of the U.S. population is well below ideal, with 80% of adults scoring at a low or moderate level. Researchers evaluated health information from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination surveys in 2013-2018 that included more than 13,500 adults (ages 20-79 years) and nearly 9,900 children (ages 2 to 19 years).

The analysis found:

“These data represent the first look at the cardiovascular health of the U.S. population using the AHA’s new Life’s Essential 8™ scoring algorithm,” said Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., FAHA, who led the study and is president of the American Heart Association, and chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “Overall, the cardiovascular health of the U.S. population is suboptimal, and we see important differences across age and sociodemographic groups. Analyses like this can help policy makers, communities, clinicians and the public to understand the opportunities to intervene to improve and maintain optimal cardiovascular health across the life course.” Lloyd-Jones is also the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research and professor of preventive medicine, medicine and pediatrics at Northwestern.

Co-authors are Hongyan Ning, M.D., M.S.; Darwin Labarthe, M.D., Ph.D.; LaPrincess Brewer, Ph.D.; Garima Sharma, M.D.; Wayne Rosamond, Ph.D., M.S.; Randi E. Foraker, Ph.D., M.A.; Terrie Black, D.N.P., M.B.A., C.R.R.N.; Michael A. Grandner, Ph.D., M.T.R.; Norrina B. Allen, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Cheryl Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.; Helen Lavretsky, M.D., M.S.; and Amanda M. Perak, M.D., M.S. Authors’ disclosures are listed in the manuscript.

Studies published in the American Heart Association’s scientific journals are peer-reviewed. The statements and conclusions in each manuscript are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The Association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers and the Association’s overall financial information are available here.

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Keywords for this news article include: American Heart Association, Cardio Device, Cardiology, Cardiovascular, Cardiovascular Research, Health and Medicine, Medical Devices, Pediatrics, Risk and Prevention.

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