Despite past progress in reducing cardiovascular disease burden, recent data show a concerning slowdown and even reversal in these trends. CVD remains the leading cause of death globally. The latest research highlights that low heart health in early adulthood, particularly among young people, may be contributing to this reversal.
To investigate this, researchers analyzed long-term data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. They used the American Heart Association’s “Life’s Essential 8” (LE8) metric, which evaluates cardiovascular health based on factors like diet, physical activity, sleep, tobacco use, body weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure. LE8 scores were tracked for several thousand individuals beginning at age 18, over a span of 20 years. They observed how those scores changed over 20 years, and then how those patterns related to poor outcomes such as heart attacks and strokes in the subsequent 20 years.
“People whose LE8 scores were always high were at very low risk for later heart attacks and strokes,” said corresponding author Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, director of the Framingham Heart Study. In contrast, individuals who started with moderate heart health and declined to low had a tenfold increase in risk. Even maintaining moderate heart health over time doubled the risk compared to those with consistently high scores.
The study reinforces that early lifestyle interventions can dramatically alter long-term health outcomes. “Change matters; improvements in heart health can decrease future risk, and the earlier it is attained and maintained, the better,” Lloyd-Jones emphasized. The authors hope the findings will encourage young adults to prioritize heart health to ensure longer, healthier lives.
Reference: Guo JW, Ning H, Allen NB, et al. Cardiovascular Health Changes in Young Adults and Risk of Later-Life Cardiovascular Disease. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(10):e2535573. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.35573
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