Most adult Americans' "heart age" older than their actual age

Three out of four American adults have a heart age that is older than their actual age because of such factors as smoking, diabetes or obesity, a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday.

"Too many U.S. adults have a heart age years older than their real age, increasing their risk of heart disease and stroke," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement. "Everybody deserves to be young -- or at least not old -- at heart."

The report, the first to provide population-level estimates of heart age in the U.S., calculates heart age based on a person's cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, diabetes status, and body mass index as an indicator for obesity.

CDC researchers used risk factor data collected from every U.S. state and information from a heart study to determine that heart age varies by gender, region, and other factors.

They found nearly 69 million adults between the ages of 30 and 74 have a heart age older than their actual age. That's about the number of people living in the 130 largest U.S. cities combined.

Overall, the average heart age for adult men is eight years older than their chronological age, compared to five years older for women.

Although heart age exceeds chronological age for all racial and ethnic groups, it is highest among African-American men and women, whose heart age is 11 years older for both genders.

The study also found geographic differences in average heart age across states, with adults in the Southern U.S. typically having higher heart ages.

States with the highest percentage of adults with a heart age five years or more over their actual age are Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Alabama, while those with the lowest percentage of adults with heart ages that exceeded their actual age by more than five years are Utah, Colorado, California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts.

Despite the serious national problem of higher heart age, the report's findings can be used on both an individual and population level to boost heart health, particularly among groups that are most at risk of poor cardiovascular outcomes, said the CDC.

It said the heart age can be improved by quitting smoking or lowering blood pressure through eating a healthier diet, taking appropriate medication, or exercising more.

"It's important to continue focusing on efforts to improve heart health and increase access to early and affordable detection and treatment resources nationwide," said Barbara Bowman, director of CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. Endit