Most US adults have low ratings for five components of heart and metabolic health, with clear racial disparities-ScienceDaily

Researchers evaluated Americans for five factors of health: blood pressure, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, obesity (overweight and obesity), and cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, etc.). They found that between 2017 and 2018, only 6.8 percent of adults in the United States had optimal levels for all five components. Of these five factors, the trends from 1999 to 2018 were also significantly worse for obesity and blood glucose levels. In 1999, one in three adults was at optimal levels for obesity (no overweight or obesity). By 2018, that number had dropped to one in four. Similarly, in 1999, 3 in 5 adults did not have diabetes or prediabetes, but in 2018, less than 4 in 10 adults did not have these conditions.

“These numbers are amazing. In the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it is very problematic that less than 1 in 15 adults have optimal cardiometabolic health.” Said Meghan O’Hearn, a PhD candidate at Friedman School. Lead author of the study. “This is a crisis for everyone, not just some of the population, so a complete overhaul of the healthcare system, food system, and built environment is needed.”

The survey examined a nationally representative sample of approximately 55,000 people over the age of 20 from 1999 to 2018 from the latest 10 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The research team focused not only on the presence or absence of illness, but also on the health of cardiac metabolism and its components at optimal, moderate, and inadequate levels. “Illness isn’t the only problem, so we need to change the conversation,” O’Hearn said. “We don’t just want to be free from illness. We want to achieve optimal health and well-being.”

Researchers have also identified large health inequalities between people of different genders, ages, races, ethnicities, and levels of education. For example, uneducated adults are half as likely to have optimal cardiac metabolic health as educated adults, and Mexican-Americans are compared to non-Hispanic Caucasian adults. It was one-third of the optimal level. In addition, between 1999 and 2018, the proportion of adults with good cardiac metabolism increased moderately among non-Hispanic Caucasians, but Mexican-Americans, other Hispanics, It decreased in non-Hispanic blacks and adults of other races.

“This is really a problem. Social determinants of health, such as food and nutrition safety, social and community conditions, economic stability and structural racial discrimination, affect individuals of different levels of education, race and ethnicity. It increases the risk of health problems, “Darish said. Mosafarian, Dean and Senior Author of Friedman School. “This highlights other important work being done at Friedman School and Tufts University to better understand and address the root causes of malnutrition and health inequalities in the United States and around the world. “

The study also evaluated “moderate” health levels (not optimal but not yet poor), including conditions such as prediabetes, prehypertension, and overweight. “Most of the population is at a critical inflection,” O’Hearn said. “Identifying these individuals and addressing their health and lifestyle early is important to reduce the increasing health burden and health injustice.”

The consequences of the dire health of adults in the United States go beyond personal health. “It has a huge impact on people’s health care costs and the financial health of the economy as a whole,” O’Hearn said. “And these conditions are largely preventable. We have public health and clinical interventions and policies to help address these issues.”

Researchers at Friedman School are actively working on many such solutions, O’Hearn said. Incentives and grants to make health foods more affordable. Consumer education on healthy eating. Private sector involvement in promoting a healthier and more equitable food system. “There are many ways to do this,” O’Hearn said. “We need a multi-sectoral approach, and we need the political will and aspirations to carry it out.”

“This is the health crisis we have been facing for some time,” O’Hearn said. “Now there are increasing economic, social and ethical demands to draw more attention to this issue.”