Research Shows 90% Canadian Adults Lack ‘Ideal’ Heart Health

The Cardiovascular Health in Ambulatory Care Research Team or CANHEART recently revealed in an article published in Monday’s issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that the heart health of most Canadian adults is less than ideal. The doctors have revealed that their study found a staunch increase in obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes as cause for concern. CANHEART index measures optimal heart health, based on behaviours including smoking and physical activity, along with factors like diabetes, using data from more than 464,000 respondents to the Canadian Community Health Survey from 2003 to 2011. 

The team concluded that fewer than one in 10 Canadian adults (9.4 per cent) and one in five Canadian youth aged 12 to 19 (16.6 per cent) were in ideal cardiovascular health. In his remarks, Dr. Jack Tu, from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, stated that “a large proportion of Canadians are in poor cardiovascular health, and the overall trend has not changed in the past decade,” while adding that “there is an urgent need to improve the heart health of Canadians.” 

According to the researchers, mixed trends were found which included encouraging signs among adults, including decreasing prevalence of smoking and increasing prevalence of both fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity, whereas youth also had decreasing prevalence of smoking. It was mentioned that “however, the rising prevalence of overweight/obesity among adults, and youth and hypertension and diabetes among adults, are cause for concern.”