Background:
While the prevalence of cardiovascular health metrics or Life’s Simple Seven (LSS) has been shown to be far from optimal in the US, such information has been predominantly reported in Caucasians. The burden of cardiovascular disease among African Americans underscores the need to evaluate the prevalence and secular trends of LSS in other ethnic groups.
Objective:
To test the hypothesis that the prevalence of the LSS is far from ideal among participants of the Jackson Heart Study.
Methods:
We analyzed LSS with 3,500 African Americans from the Jackson Heart Study, using data from their first clinic visit (2000-2004). Standard methods were used to measure blood pressure, glucose, body mass index (BMI), and cholesterol. Information on physical activity, smoking, and diet was collected with interviewer-administered questionnaires. Each of the LSS metrics (smoking status, diet, physical activity, BMI, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, and blood pressure) was categorized as poor, intermediate, or ideal, as defined by the AHA guidelines.
Results:
The mean age at baseline was 56.9 ± 12.2 years and 2,350 participants (67%) were women. Among men, the prevalence of having 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 ideal cardiovascular health metrics was 6.6%, 25.8%, 32.7%, 21.6%, 10.6%, 2.3%, 0.4%, and 0%, respectively. Corresponding values for women were 3.2%, 28.1%, 32.9%, 22.3%, 10.1%, 2.9%, 0.38%, and 0%. While about two-thirds of men and women reported ideal smoking status, almost none reported ideal diet quality, and few met recommendations for BMI and blood pressure (
Figure)
.
Conclusions:
Our data are consistent with less than optimal prevalence of cardiovascular health metrics in both men and women from the Jackson Heart Study. The lower prevalence of meeting ideal recommendations for diet, physical activity, BMI, and blood pressure underscores the need for targeted interventions to improve these modifiable lifestyle factors in order to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease among African-Americans.
Ideal Cardiovascular Health and Incident Cardiovascular Disease: Heterogeneity Across Event Subtypes and Mediating Effect of Blood Biomarkers: The PRIME Study
