Geographic Variation in Cardiovascular Health Among American Adults.

Abstract Objective To evaluate the contemporary geographic trends in cardiovascular health in the United States and its relationship with geographic distribution of cardiovascular mortality. Methods By use of a retrospective cross-sectional design, the 2011-2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) was queried to determine the age-adjusted prevalence of cardiovascular health index (CVHI) metrics (sum of ideal blood pressure, blood glucose concentration, lipid levels, body mass index, smoking, physical activity, and diet). Cardiovascular health was estimated as both continuous (0 to 7 points) and categorical (ideal, intermediate, poor) variables from the BRFSS. Age-adjusted cardiovascular mortality for 2017 was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database. Results Among 1,362,529 American adult participants of the BRFSS 2011-2017 and all American residents in 2017, the CVHI score increased from 3.89±0.004 in 2011 to 3.96±0.005 in 2017 (Ptrend Conclusion Despite a modest improvement in CVHI, only 1 in 6 Americans has ideal cardiovascular health with significant geographic differences. These differences correlate with the geographic distribution of cardiovascular mortality. An urgent unmet need exists to mitigate the geographic disparities in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.