Trends in unhealthy lifestyle factors in US NHANES respondents with cardiovascular disease for the period between 1999 and 2018

Yanting Liang; Fengyao Liu; Han Yin; Xiaohe Shi; Yilin Chen; Haochen Wang; Yu Wang; Bingqing Bai; Yuting Liu; Quanjun Liu; Chao Wu; Xueju Yu; Huan Ma; Qingshan Geng

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2023.1169036

Trends in unhealthy lifestyle factors in US NHANES respondents with cardiovascular disease for the period between 1999 and 2018

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 May 19:10:1169036. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1169036. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yanting Liang^#^{1

2}, Fengyao Liu^#^{1

3}, Han Yin^#^{1

2}, Xiaohe Shi¹, Yilin Chen^{1

3}, Haochen Wang⁴, Yu Wang¹, Bingqing Bai^{1

5}, Yuting Liu¹, Quanjun Liu^{1

3}, Chao Wu¹, Xueju Yu⁴, Huan Ma^#¹, Qingshan Geng^#^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Cardiology, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Jinan University, Shenzhen, China.
³ School of Medicine South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Guangdong Provincial Geriatrics Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine national trends in unhealthy lifestyle factors among adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the United States (US) between 1999 and 2018.

Methods: We analyzed data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative survey of participants with CVD who were aged ≥20 years, which was conducted between 1999 and 2000 and 2017-2018. CVD was defined as a self-report of congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, angina, heart attack, or stroke. The prevalence rate of each unhealthy lifestyle factor was calculated among adults with CVD for each of the 2-year cycle surveys. Regression analyses were used to assess the impact of sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, education level, marital status, and employment status).

Results: The final sample included 5610 NHANES respondents with CVD. The prevalence rate of their current smoking status remained stable among respondents with CVD between 1999 and 2000 and 2017-2018. During the same period, there was a decreasing trend in the age-adjusted prevalence rate of poor diet [primary American Heart Association (AHA) score <20; 47.5% (37.9%-57.0%) to 37.5% (25.7%-49.3%), p < 0.01]. Physical inactivity marginally increased before decreasing, with no statistical significance. The prevalence rate of sedentary behavior increased from 2007 to 2014 but subsequently returned to its original level in 2018 with no statistical significance. The age-adjusted prevalence rate of obesity increased from 32% (27.2%-36.8%) in 1999-2000 to 47.9% (39.9%-55.8%) in 2017-2018 (p < 0.001). The age-adjusted prevalence rate of depression increased from 7% (4.2%-9.9%) in 1999-2000 to 13.9% (10.2%-17.6%) in 2017-2018 (p = 0.056). Trends in mean for each unhealthy lifestyle factor were similar after adjustment for age. We found that respondents who had low education and income levels were at a higher risk of being exposed to unhealthy lifestyle factors (i.e., smoking, poor diet, and physical inactivity) than those who had high education and income levels.

Conclusions: There is a significant reduction in the prevalence rate of poor diet among US adults with CVD between 1999 and 2018, while the prevalence rate of obesity showed increasing trends over this period. The prevalence rate of current smoking status, sedentary behavior, and depression was either stable or showed an insignificant increase. These findings suggest that there is an urgent need for health policy interventions targeting unhealthy lifestyles among adults with CVD.

Keywords: United States; cardiovascular disease; national health and nutrition examination survey; trend; unhealthy lifestyle factors.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the grants from Start-up Funding of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.8207120182, No.8207050582, No.8217142362, No.8197091267), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No.2021A1515011118), High-level Hospital Construction Project of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (No.DFJH201922, No.DFJH2020029), and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2021A1515011781).