WEDNESDAY, June 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) — An enhanced approach for assessing cardiovascular health, Life’s Essential 8, has been developed, according to an American Heart Association (AHA) Presidential Advisory published online June 29 in Circulation.
Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues convened a writing group to recommend enhancements and updates in response to insights into the strengths and limitations of the novel construct of cardiovascular health developed in 2010. The definition and quantification of each of the original Life’s Simple 7 metrics were evaluated for responsiveness to interindividual variation and intraindividual change. In addition, consideration was given to new metrics and the age spectrum was expanded across the entire life course.
The authors introduced an enhanced approach for assessing cardiovascular health: Life’s Essential 8, which included diet (updated), physical activity, nicotine exposure (updated), sleep health (new), body mass index, blood lipids (updated), blood glucose (updated), and blood pressure. A new scoring algorithm from 0 to 100 points was developed for each metric, allowing generation of a score varying from 0 to 100.
“With this enhanced measurement tool for cardiovascular health, the AHA and its numerous multisector partners in schools, communities, government, health care, business, and beyond have new opportunities to catalyze cardiovascular health improvement by raising awareness of its importance, promoting platforms for its measurement, funding research on interventions, and disseminating successful strategies,” the authors write.
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