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. 2011 Mar 1;123(8):850-7.
doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.110.980151. Epub 2011 Feb 14.

Low prevalence of "ideal cardiovascular health" in a community-based population: the heart strategies concentrating on risk evaluation (Heart SCORE) study

Claudia Bambs  1 , Kevin E Kip, Andrea Dinga, Suresh R Mulukutla, Aryan N Aiyer, Steven E Reis
Affiliations

Low prevalence of "ideal cardiovascular health" in a community-based population: the heart strategies concentrating on risk evaluation (Heart SCORE) study

Claudia Bambs et al. Circulation. .

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular health is a new construct defined by the American Heart Association (AHA) as part of its 2020 Impact Goal definition. The applicability of this construct to community-based populations and the distributions of its components by race and sex have not been reported.

Methods and results: The AHA construct of cardiovascular health and the AHA ideal health behaviors index and ideal health factors index were evaluated among 1933 participants (mean age 59 years; 44% blacks; 66% women) in the community-based Heart Strategies Concentrating on Risk Evaluation (Heart SCORE) study. One of 1933 participants (0.1%) met all 7 components of the AHA's definition of ideal cardiovascular health. Less than 10% of participants met ≥ 5 components of ideal cardiovascular health in all subgroups (by race, sex, age, and income level). Thirty-nine subjects (2.0%) had all 4 components of the ideal health behaviors index and 27 (1.4%) had all 3 components of the ideal health factors index. Blacks had significantly fewer ideal cardiovascular health components than whites (2.0 ± 1.2 versus 2.6 ± 1.4; P < 0.001). After adjustment by sex, age, and income level, blacks had 82% lower odds of having ≥ 5 components of ideal cardiovascular health (odds ratio 0.18, 95% confidence interval, 0.10 to 0.34; P<0.001). No interaction was found between race and sex.

Conclusion: The prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health is extremely low in a middle-aged community-based study population. Comprehensive individual and population-based interventions must be developed to support the attainment of the AHA's 2020 Impact Goal for cardiovascular health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Distribution of participants by number of components of ideal cardiovascular health (Score 0 to 7) in the total cohort and subgroups by race and sex
Components of ideal cardiovascular health: Not currently smoking, BMI<25kg/m2, physically “very active”, consumption of ≥3 servings/day of fruits and vegetables, total cholesterol<200mg/dL untreated, systolic blood pressure<120mmHg and diastolic blood pressure<80mmHg untreated and fasting plasma glucose<100mg/dL untreated.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Distribution of participants by number of ideal health behaviors (Score 0 to 4) in the total cohort and subgroups by race and sex
Health Behaviors: Not currently smoking, BMI<25kg/m2, physically “very active”, and consumption of ≥3 servings/day of fruits and vegetables.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Distribution of participants by number of ideal health factors (Score 0 to 4) in the total cohort and subgroups by race and sex
Health factors: Not currently smoking, Total Cholesterol<200mg/dL untreated, Systolic Blood Pressure<120mmHg and Diastolic Blood Pressure<80mmHg untreated, Fasting Plasma Glucose<100mg/dL untreated.
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