Life's Essential Eight: Updating and Enhancing the American Heart Association's Cardiovascular Health Construct
Published: June 29, 2022
- Introduced in 2010, Life’s Simple Seven™ was the AHA’s original, formal construct for “cardiovascular health” (CVH), serving as a means for measuring and monitoring the health of populations and individuals, and as a target for positive change.
- With substantial new evidence over the last 12 years, this Advisory includes new definitions and metrics for quantifying CVH, expands the spectrum of CVH to include the life course from age 2 onwards, and addresses social determinants of health (SDOH) and psychological health and well-being as crucial contextual factors to improve CVH.
- With updated metrics and a new scoring system, the components of the new Life’s Essential 8™ now include diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health (a new component), body weight, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
Supporting Materials
- Top Things to Know: Life’s Essential Eight: Updating and Enhancing the American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Health Construct
- News Release: American Heart Association adds sleep to cardiovascular health checklist
- Status of Cardiovascular Health in US Adults and Children Using the American Heart Association's New "Life's Essential 8" Metrics: Prevalence Estimates from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2013-2018
Recommended Reading
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, 9th Edition
- 2019 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
- Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: Advisory Report to the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (PDF)
- Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
- Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2022 Update
- Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations Revision 2006
- Recommended Dietary Pattern to Achieve Adherence to the AHA/ACC Guidelines
- Rapid Diet Assessment Screening Tools for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Across Healthcare Settings