Article Figures & Data
Tables
- Table 1.
American Heart Association (AHA) Definition of Cardiovascular Health Metric (Life's Simple 7)
Health Factors Levels AHA Definition* Blood pressure Ideal <120/<80 mmHg, without treatment Intermediate SBP 120–139 or DBP 80–89 mmHg, or treated to <120/<80 mmHg Poor SBP ≥140 mmHg or DBP ≥90 mmHg Fasting serum glucose Ideal <100 mg/dL, without treatment Intermediate 100–125 mg/dL, or treated to <100 mg/dL Poor ≥126 mg/dL Total cholesterol Ideal <200 mg/dL, without treatment Intermediate 200–239 mg/dL, treated to <200 mg dL Poor ≥240 mg/dL Behavioral factors Smoking Ideal Never or quit >12 months earlier Intermediate Former (quit ≤12 months earlier) Poor Current Physical activity Ideal ≥150 min/week moderate, or ≥75 min/week vigorous, or ≥150 min/week moderate + vigorous Intermediate 1–149 min/week moderate, or 1–74 min/week vigorous, or 1–149 min/week moderate + vigorous Poor None Healthy weight Ideal BMI <25 kg/m2 Intermediate BMI 25–29.9 kg/m2 Poor BMI ≥30 kg/m2 Healthy diet* Ideal 4 or 5 components Intermediate 2 or 3 components Poor 0 or 1 component ↵* American Heart Association's (AHA's) healthy diet category contains 5 components: consumption of fruits and vegetables (≥4.5 cups/day), fiber-rich whole grain (≥3 1-oz servings/day), sodium (<1500 mg/day), sugar-sweetened beverages (≤36 oz/week), and fish (≥2 3.5-oz servings/week). Our modified healthy diet category also consists of 5 components: consumption of fruits and vegetables (≥4.5 cups/day), fiber-rich whole grain (≥ 3 oz/day), sodium (<2300 mg/day), added sugar (<37.5 g/day for men, <25 g/day for women), and fish (≥2 times/week).
BMI, body mass index; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; SBP, systolic blood pressure.
- Table 2.
Unweighted Sociodemographic Characteristics of Subjects from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009–2012
Characteristic Retirees (n = 359)* Nonretirees (n = 597)* P Value† Age, years (mean ± SD) 65.6 ± 3.5 61.0 ± 4.3 <.0001 Sex Male 52.4 57.1 .04 Female 47.6 42.9 Height, cm (mean ± SD) 166.9 ± 9.5 168.2 ± 10.1 .0003 Weight, kg (mean ± SD) 84.3 ± 20.6 82.2 ± 19.4 .25 Race Hispanic 21.2 26.3 .58 White 41.8 41.0 Black 27.9 21.3 Other 9.2 11.4 Body mass index Underweight (<18.5 kg/m2) 0.9 0.7 .62 Normal weight (≥18.5 but ≤24.9 kg/m2) 20.5 26.0 Overweight (≥25 but ≤29.9 kg/m2) 32.1 35.5 Obese (≥30 kg/m2) 46.5 37.8 Health insurance None 7.0 18.8 <.0001 Private 55.0 66.8 Public 38.0 14.4 Ratio of family income to poverty ≥1.0 86.2 88.7 .24 <1.0 13.8 11.3 Data are percentages unless otherwise indicated.
↵* Numbers of subjects in each category may be different because of the missing values for some variables.
↵† P value from the χ2 test (categorical variables) and regression analysis (continuous variables) comparing the difference in demographic variables between late retirees and nonretirees.
SD, standard deviation.
- Table 3.
Comparison of the Prevalence of the 7 Components of the Life's Simple 7 Between Retirees and Nonretirees
Cardiovascular Health Metric Retirees Nonretirees P Value* No. Prevalence No. Prevalence Smoking status .27 Ideal 297 86.5 491 83.7 Intermediate 10 2.3 11 1.0 Poor 52 11.2 94 15.2 Healthy weight .25 Ideal 67 18.3 149 24.6 Intermediate 114 34.1 210 35.4 Poor 174 47.6 233 40.0 Physical activity .17 Ideal 128 41.9 165 33.5 Intermediate 50 13.4 98 18.7 Poor 181 44.6 334 47.8 Total cholesterol .81 Ideal 195 52.6 305 49.6 Intermediate 114 35.0 204 35.5 Poor 44 12.3 82 14.9 Blood pressure .05 Ideal 101 31.1 188 39.4 Intermediate 158 45.0 258 45.5 Poor 88 23.9 126 15.1 Glucose .07 Ideal 90 29.9 225 40.7 Intermediate 168 53.1 257 46.2 Poor 76 17.0 89 13.1 Healthy diet .21 Ideal 7 1.4 7 1.5 Intermediate 91 28.5 139 21.1 Poor 240 70.2 418 77.4 ↵* P value from χ2 test comparing the difference of prevalence among the 7 components of the Life's Simple 7 between late-middle-age retirees and nonretirees.
- Table 4.
Logistic Regression Estimates for Comparing the Prevalence of the 7 Components of the Life's Simple 7 Between Retirees and Nonretirees, Controlling for Demographic Variables
Cardiovascular Health Metric Odds Ratio* 95% Confidence Interval Smoking status 1.05 0.51 to −2.17 Healthy weight 1.53 0.89–2.64 Physical activity 1.85 1.10–3.09 Total cholesterol 1.05 0.52–2.11 Blood pressure 0.66 0.38–1.14 Glucose 0.68 0.39–1.18 Healthy diet 1.37 0.78–2.43 ↵* Odds ratios for Life's Simple 7 item prevalence after adjusting for age, sex, race, health insurance status, and poverty level.
