Secular Trends in Cardiovascular Health in US Adults (from NHANES 2007 to 2018)

Deceleration in the decline of cardiovascular disease mortality has been observed recently in the US. We aimed to examine the recent secular trends of cardiovascular health metrics in the US general population. A total of 32,832 adults aged ≥20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2007 to 2018 were included in this analysis. Cardiovascular health included 7 health metrics: smoking status, body mass index, physical activity, healthy diet score, total cholesterol, blood pressure, and fasting plasma glucose. Age-standardized mean of overall cardiovascular health score did not significantly change during 2007 to 2010, 2011 to 2014, and 2015 to 2018 in the US adult population (7.88, 8.03, and 7.91, respectively, P-trend = 0.85). The age-standardized proportions of ideal smoking status (P-trend = 0.003), ideal physical activity (P-trend = 0.03), and untreated total cholesterol <200 mg/dL (P-trend <0.001) were significantly increased but the proportions of body mass index <25.0 kg/m² (P-trend <0.001), systolic/diastolic blood pressure <120/80 mmHg (P-trend = 0.02), and fasting plasma glucose <100 mg/dL (P-trend <0.001) were significantly decreased during the same period of time in the US adults. In conclusion, from 2007 to 2018, overall cardiovascular health did not change in the US general adult population. Of note, body mass index, blood pressure, and fasting plasma glucose significantly worsened during the same period.