Researchers have found a serious health crisis that requires immediate action. Less than 7 percent of American adults have good cardio-metabolic health.
Researchers at Tufts University show that most American adults have low and obvious racial differences in five areas of cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Scientists have found a serious health crisis that requires immediate action. Less than 7% of American adults have good cardio-metabolic health. This was the subject of a July 12 issue of Pioneer Perspective on Cardiometabolic Health Trends and Differences, led by a team from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Their research team also includes scientists from Tufts Medical Center.
“These numbers are staggering. One in 15 adults in the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, has serious cardiometabolic health concerns.” Meghan O’Hearn
The researchers assessed Americans in five health categories: depression, blood cholesterol, blood sugar, constipation (obesity and obesity) and the presence or absence of cardiovascular disease (heart failure, stroke, etc.). From 2017-2018, only 6.8% of US adults had a good grade in the top five. Of these five components, trends between 1999 and 2018 have worsened blood glucose and accumulation. A.D. In 1999, 1 out of 3 adults were diagnosed with obesity (overweight or obese), but in 2018 that number dropped from 4 to 1. Similarly, 60% of adults did not have diabetes or pre-diabetes in 1999. In 2018, less than 40% of adults were exempt from these conditions.
“These numbers are staggering,” said Meghan O’Hearn, a doctoral candidate and lead author of the Friedman School of Medicine. We want to completely reform our food system and our built environment because this is a crisis not just for one section of the population but for everyone. “
The study looked at a nationwide sample of nearly 55,000 people aged 20 years and over in the 10 most recent National Health and Nutrition Test cycles from 1999 to 2018. The researchers focused not only on the presence or absence of disease but also on good, moderate and poor cardiometric health and its components. “Since the disease is not the only problem, we need to change the discussion,” Oher said. “We don’t just want to be free of disease. We want good health and well-being.
The group identified significant health differences among people of different genders, ages, races, ethnicities, and educational backgrounds. For example, low-educated adults were about half as likely to have good heart health, and Mexican Americans were one-third better off than non-Hispanic white adults. In addition, between 1999 and 2018, the percentage of healthy cardio-healthy adults increased slightly from non-Hispanic white Americans to Mexican Americans, other Hispanic, non-Hispanic blacks, and other racial adults.
“We don’t just want to be free of disease. We want good health and well-being. – Meghan O’Hearn
“This is really a problem. According to Friedman Dean Darius Mosafaria, individuals at different levels of education, race and ethnicity, who determine health issues such as food and nutrition, social and social context, economic stability and structural racism, are at risk for health problems. School and Senior Author. “This highlights another important work being done at Friedman School and Tufts University to better understand and address the causes of poor nutrition and health disparities in the United States and around the world.”
The study also assessed “moderate” health levels – not good but not yet weak – including conditions such as pre-diabetes, pre-hypertension and overweight. “The majority of the population is at a critical juncture,” O’Hearn said. “Identifying these individuals and addressing their health status early in life is critical to reducing growing health care burdens and health inequalities.”
The consequences of poor health among American adults go far beyond personal health. “The impact on national health care costs and financial health across the economy is enormous,” Oher said. “And these conditions are usually preventable. We have public health and clinical interventions and policies to address these issues.
Friedman School researchers are actively working on many such solutions, as Oher says food is a drug intervention (using a good diet to prevent and treat disease); Incentives and subsidies to make healthy food more affordable; Consumer education on healthy eating; And private sector participation to drive a healthier and more equitable diet. “There are many different ways to do this,” says Oher. “We need a multifaceted approach, and we need political will and desire to do that.”
“This is a temporary health crisis,” says Oher. There is a growing economic, social, and moral need to pay more attention to this problem.
Reference to “Trends and Differences in Cardiovascular Health among American Adults, 1999-2018” by Meghan O’Hearn MS, Brianna N. Lauren MS, John B.Wong MD, David D. Kim PhD and Dariush MozaffarianMD, DrPH, July 4 2022, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
DOI ፡ 10.1016 / j.jacc.2022.04.046
Funded by NIH / National Cardiovascular, Lung and Blood Institute