Abstract 13631: Cardiovascular Risk Profile Among Reproductive Aged Women in the United States: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2015-2020)

Abstract

Introduction: Suboptimal cardiovascular health (CVH) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and long-term CV risk. Studies examining contemporary trends in CV risk factors (RF) and suboptimal CVH among US women of reproductive age are limited. Methods: We used the 2015 - 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a nationally representative survey of US adults, to conduct this serial cross-sectional study. We restricted our sample to nonpregnant reproductive-aged women (18-44 years) without CVD (n=336,102). We calculated the prevalence of each CV RF (current smoking, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, physical inactivity, poor diet, and overweight/obesity) and suboptimal CVH (≥2 RF) for each year and examined trends between 2015 and 2020 Results: Between 2015 and 2020, diabetes prevalence remained relatively stable (2.9% to 3.0%; p=0.09) while overweight/obesity prevalence increased (53.1% to 58.4%; p<0.001). Conversely, prevalence of current smoking declined (16.0% to 12.4%; p<0.001). Also, between 2015 and 2019, hypertension prevalence remained stable (9.9% to 10.1%; p=0.57) while there was an increase in the prevalence of physical inactivity (49.1% to 51.6%; p<0.001) and poor diet (80.2% to 81.6%; p=0.003) but a decline in prevalence of hypercholesterolemia (16.2% to 12.6%; p<0.001). The prevalence of suboptimal CVH increased modestly from 72.4% (71.6%-73.3%) in 2015 to 75.9% (75%-76.7%) in 2019 (p<0.001). Significant increases in the prevalence of suboptimal CVH were observed among non-Hispanic White (69.8% to 72.6%) and Hispanic (75.1% to 80.3%) but not among non-Hispanic Black (82.7% to 83.7%) and Asian women (68.1% to 73.2%). State-level prevalence of suboptimal CVH in 2019 varied significantly Conclusions: There has been a modest increase in suboptimal CVH among US women of reproductive age. Thus, preventive efforts are needed to improve CVH in women, particularly among subgroups at increased risk of suboptimal CVH.