Abstract
BACKGROUND: More than 1 in 3 U.S. adults has cardiovascular disease (CVD). The U.S. workforce makes up over 50% of the entire population, making the workplace the ideal setting for addressing the burden of CVD. This study used the American Heart Association’s (AHA) cardiovascular (CV) health metrics to assess the risk of CVD over 3 years among employees of Baptist Health South Florida (BHSF), a large nonprofit health care organization. METHODS: Ideal CV health is defined by the AHA as meeting ideal status in 7 health metrics: diet, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, blood pressure, total cholesterol, blood glucose and smoking. The health metrics were calculated using data collected annually from voluntary wellness fairs and health risk assessments. Each metric was categorized as ideal, intermediate or poor according to AHA criteria. RESULTS: Data were collected for a total of 6147 employees in 2011, 11112 in 2012 and 9996 in 2013. For each year, approximately 75% were women and mean age (SD) was 43...