Abstract Body: Background: This study examined cardiovascular health (CVH), using the American Heart Association Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) scores among the United States Masters Swimming (USMS) adult swimmers.
Methods: A cross-sectional Qualtrics survey was distributed by USMS via an online newsletter and by 52 local masters swimming organizations via email. We calculated the overall CVH score (range 0 [lowest] to 100 [highest]) and eight individual component scores, four health behaviors (diet, physical activity, sleep, and tobacco) and four health factors (body mass index [BMI], non-high-density cholesterol [non-HDL-C], hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c], and blood pressure [BP]). Each LE8 component was scored on a 1-100 scale and the final LE8 score represented the average of eight component scores.
Results: We received responses from 1,097 USMS members. The participants’ mean age was 42.8 (range 18-84), 59.0% identified as women and 89.5% as White. The overall mean CVH score was 80.4 (±9.9). There were significant differences in the overall mean CVH score by sex (men, 78.3; women, 81.9) and race (range, 74.2-84.3) but not age (range, 79.2-80.7). Mean scores were the lowest for diet and non-HDL-C (51.5 and 75.2, respectively) and the highest for tobacco and physical activity (95.5 and 99.0, respectively). There were significant differences in mean scores across sexes in BMI (range, 77.6-85.8), non-HDL-C (range, 74.5-75.7) and BP (range 79.9-91.3), across races in BMI (range 65.9-87.8) and sleep (range, 57.9-92.5) and across ages in tobacco (range, 88.9-96.4), non-HDL-C (range, 73.2-100) and BP (range, 74.7-97.9). The mean USMS scores, compared to the mean NHANES scores for US adults, were higher for the total CVH score (+24.3%), diet (+42.8%), physical activity (+91.8%), tobacco (+38.0%), BMI (+43.1%), non-HDL-C (+11.5%), HbA1c (+%18.5) and BP (+22.3%) and lower only for sleep (-1%).
Conclusion: We observed an ideal CVH score (over 80) among adult swimmers who are part of supervised and educational exercise environment overseen by the USMS.