• Quanhe Yang, Wen Zhou, Xin Tong, Zefeng Zhang, and Robert K Merritt.
• Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia. Electronic address: qay0@cdc.gov.
• Am J Prev Med. 2024 Aug 31.

IntroductionThis study examined the association between American Heart Association's (AHA) cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics, Life's Essential 8 (LE8), and predicted heart age among U.S. adults.MethodsThe sample comprised 7,075 participants aged 30-74 years without CVD and/or stroke from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-March 2020. LE8 was measured according to AHA's metrics (overall score ranging from 0 to 100 points), and nonlaboratory-based Framingham Risk Score was used to estimate predicted heart age. Analyses were completed in June 2024.ResultsMedian LE8 scores were 62.8 for men and 66.0 for women. Over 80% of participants had less than optimal CVH scores, affecting 141.5 million people and 1-in-6 participants had a low CVH score, impacting 30.0 million people. Mean predicted heart age and excess heart age (EHA, difference between actual and predicted heart age) were 56.6 (95% CI 56.1-57.1) and 8.6 (8.1-9.1) years for men and 54.0 (53.4-54.7) and 5.9 (5.2-6.5) years for women. Participants in the low CVH group (scores<50), had an EHA that was 20.7 years higher than those in the high CVH group (score 80-100). Compared to the high CVH group, participants in low CVH group had 15 times (for men) and 44 times (for women) higher risk of having EHA ≥10 years. The pattern of differences in predicted heart age, EHA, and prevalence of EHA ≥10 years by LE8 groups remained largely consistent across subpopulations.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to improve cardiovascular health and reduce excess heart age.Published by Elsevier Inc.

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