The cardiovascular health of U.S. children is strikingly dismal, so says a new statement from the American Heart Association.
Specifically, less than 1 percent of American children meet the organization’s definition of ideal cardiovascular health, according to statement author Dr. Julia Steinberger, a professor in pediatrics and director of pediatric cardiology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Poor diet is the biggest contributor to this trend, Steinberger says. “Unhealthy diet was shown to be present in greater than 90 percent of American children,” she explains. The next factor is low levels of physical activity.
The American Heart Association examined data from a 2007 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in crafting the statement, published Thursday in its journal, Circulation. Nearly all children studied (91 percent) did not score well on dietary measures; children ages 2 to 19 consumed simple carbohydrates like sugary desserts and beverages so heavily that they accounted for most of their daily calories. The findings also showed that in kids ages 6 to 11, just half of the boys and more than a third of girls got the recommended 60 minutes or more of physical activity each day. This dipped to just 10 percent of boys and 5 percent of girls in the 16- to 19-year-old group.
Additionally, 10 percent of children ages 2 to 5 were obese according to their body mass index, or BMI, a measure of body weight by height. Obesity levels were particularly high, rising between 19 and 27 percent, among the 12- to 19-year-olds studied.
Steinberger also addressed the status of obesity in the last five to 10 years. “There are indications that the rate of obesity has plateaued in the sense that the number of newly diagnosed children with obesity has somewhat plateaued,” she says. “However, unfortunately, what has emerged is that the rate of diagnosis of children with severe obesity, with extreme obesity, has been on the upsurge,” she adds.
In order for children to achieve ideal cardiovascular health, the American Heart Association recommends eating a healthy diet; maintaining a healthy body weight; getting at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity; avoiding tobacco products; and having healthy cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels, according to an accompanying news release.
“It sounds pretty simple, but in reality, this takes a tremendous commitment,” Steinberger says. “And it is not necessarily only the child’s commitment, but the commitment of the entire family and the surroundings.”
To combat the problem, Steinberger sees great potential in leveraging big data and analytics to monitor health and behavior trends, such as accessing patient-generated data through wearable technologies.
According to Steinberger, this problem is “ours to lose.”
“Kids are born with ideal health,” she says. “So if we could make the effort to improve some of these elements, especially the diet and physical activity, I think we would have a much healthier young adult and adult population.”
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Most Children Lack Ideal Heart Health originally appeared on usnews.com
