CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Only 1 in 5 people in the United States has optimal heart health, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
The data revealed is from the Circulation Journal Report: New Life’s Essential 8. Life’s Essential 8 is updated guidance to measure cardiovascular health, adding healthy sleep as essential for ideal heart and brain health to ‘Life’s Simple 7.’
The Life’s Essential 8 metrics are incorporated into AHA’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.
Amy Hannah, Executive Director of Family Resource Network in Mingo County told MetroNews as a heart attack survivor herself, she understands how additional rest equals a healthier person.
“I can see how good sleep is essential to our health overall. For our heart, our brain and our mental health,” Hannah said.
As part of the report, 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, AHA said.
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.
Hannah said other important steps are to find a good health provider with that a patient can have an open relationship to set goals.
Hannah also added that a person should not wait until something happens to take action on heart health.
“If you do annual screenings and keep a focus on these eight things, you can keep yourself healthier, thus preventing a major heart attack down the road,” she said.