Circulation Journal Report: New Life’s Essential 8™ score reveals concerning data
From:
American Heart Association
June 29, 2022 -- DALLAS, June 29, 2022 — 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 today in Circulation, the Association’s
flagship, peer-reviewed journal. Life’s
Essential 8™, also published today in Circulation, details the
Association’s updated guidance to measure cardiovascular health, adding healthy
sleep as essential for ideal heart and brain health.
Study
Highlights:
- Researchers
found the U.S. population is well below optimal levels of cardiovascular
health after applying the Life’s Essential 8™ cardiovascular health
scoring, the American Heart Association’s updated metrics to measure heart
and brain health.
- Life’s
Essential 8™ scoring was calculated using data from more than 23,400
adults and children from national health surveys from 2013-2018. Results
show 80% of people in the U.S. have below-optimal cardiovascular health,
and scores differed significantly according to age, gender,
race/ethnicity, family income and depression status.
- The
average cardiovascular health score based on Life’s Essential 8™ was 64.7
(out of a possible 100) for U.S. adults and 65.5 for children.
- Life’s
Essential 8™ is more sensitive to differences in cardiovascular health
among groups of people and individuals compared to the previous 7-item
scoring system that did not include sleep duration.
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:
- Life’s Essential 8™ aligns with
Life’s Simple 7™, however, it was more sensitive to differences in
cardiovascular health among groups of people and individuals.
- The average cardiovascular health
score based on Life’s Essential 8™ was 64.7 for U.S. adults and 65.5 for
U.S. children. The children’s average took into consideration age-based
modifications for metrics in diet, physical activity and BMI for children
ages 2 through 19 years.
- Only 0.45% of adults scored 100 on
Life’s Essential 8™.
- 19.6% of U.S. adults had high
cardiovascular health; 62.5% moderate; and 17.9% low.
- Adult women had higher average
cardiovascular health scores, of 67, compared to men, with a score of
62.5.
- In general, U.S. adults scored
lowest in the areas of diet, physical activity and BMI.
- Cardiovascular health scores were
generally lower at older ages.
- Individuals who identify as
Non-Hispanic Asian Americans had a higher average cardiovascular health
score than other racial/ethnic groups. Non-Hispanic White individuals had
the second highest average cardiovascular health score, followed, in
order, by Hispanic (other than Mexican), Mexican, and Non-Hispanic Black
individuals.
- Children’s diet scores were low, at
an average of 40.6.
- Adult sociodemographic groups
varied notably in cardiovascular health scores for diet, nicotine
exposure, blood glucose and blood pressure.
"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
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corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other
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events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from
influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech
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Association’s overall financial information are available here.
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/only-1-in-5-people-in-the-u-s-has-optimal-heart-health?preview=2c1b
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