Ideal Cardiovascular Health Metrics Are Associated with Disability Independently of Vascular Conditions

Background: Vascular risk factors may be associated with disability independently of vascular events. We examined whether the American Heart Association’s 7 ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics were independently associated with disability in a nationally representative cohort. Methods: Adults age ≥20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2012 were included. Ideal CVH was calculated as a composite of 7 measures, each scored 0–2. Primary predictors were number of ideal CVH metrics and score of CVH metrics. The outcome was a dichotomous score from 20 activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADLs. Unadjusted and adjusted weighted logistic models estimated associations between ideal CVH and disability. The data were analyzed in 2015. Results: Among 22692 participants, mean age was 46.9 years. Cardiac disease and stroke were present in 6.6% and 2.8%; 90.3% had poor physical activity and 89.9% poor diet. Among 3975 individuals with full CVH data, in fully adjusted models, OR for disability was 0.90 (95% CI 0.83–0.98) per point increase in ideal CVH score, and 0.84 (0.73–0.97) per additional number of ideal CVH metrics. Conclusions: CVH metrics were strongly and significantly associated with reduced odds of disability independently of vascular and non-vascular conditions. Poorer CVH may cause subclinical vascular disease resulting in disability.