Abstract
ResumeObjective:to estimate the prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health indicators in the Brazilian population, according to gender, age, education and region of residence. Method:cross-sectional study that used data from 41,134 participants of the Surveillance System of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (Vigitel). The ideal cardiovascular health assessment considers four behavioral factors: not smoking; body mass index less than 25 kg/m2; practicing physical activity, eating fruits and vegetables five or more times per day; and two clinical factors (no diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension). The sum of factors at ideal levels results in a score ranging from zero (worse cardiovascular health) to six (ideal cardiovascular health). Results:considering the six factors, only 3.4% of the studied population presented ideal levels of cardiovascular health, with the majority of participants (57.6%) presenting three or four ideal factors. Women had higher prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health (3.8% versus 2.9% for men) (p < 0.0001). Conclusion:the findings of this study are consistent with the elevated risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease, observed in the Brazilian population. This may contribute to a better understanding of the scenario of cardiovascular health in the urban population of the country.
Highlights
The high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a consequence of changes in the life habits of the population[1], and in 2010 these diseases were among the top 20 responsible for Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in Brazil[2]
When the individual cardiovascular health factors were analyzed, it was observed that diet presented the lowest level of adequacy, with only 23.6% of the Brazilian population presenting the diet at an ideal level, followed by physical activity (35.2%) and BMI (48.6%) (Figure 1)
When analyzing the set of indicators (Figure 2), it was verified that 3.4% of the Brazilian population presented ideal cardiovascular health and, in relation to the sum of the behavioral factors, only 3.9% of the population presented all four factors at ideal levels (Figure 2 – A)
Summary
The high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a consequence of changes in the life habits of the population[1], and in 2010 these diseases were among the top 20 responsible for Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in Brazil[2]. The American Heart Association (AHA) has proposed measures to evaluate the cardiovascular health of populations through the simultaneous presence of seven factors, four behaviors (not smoking, performing regular physical activity, body mass index (BMI)
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