Only 19.6 percent of adults in the U.S. have high cardiovascular health, a study published June 29 in Circulation found.
Researchers analyzed the heart health of 23,409 adults and children using "Life’s Essential 8" metrics. Heart health was calculated by adding the scores for each of the eight metrics and dividing by the number of metrics.
Five key findings:
- Only 0.45 percent of adults scored 100.
- About 62.5 percent of participants had moderate heart health and 17.9 percent had low heart health.
- Adult women had higher average cardiovascular health scores compared to men.
- Scores were generally lower at older ages.
- In general, adults scored lowest on diet, physical activity and body mass index.