Table 1.

Cardiovascular health score components for all MESA participants and by race/ethnicity.^*

Component	Score	Definition	Black and White MESA Population (n = 3154)	Black MESA Population (n = 1409)	White MESA Population (n = 1745)
Smoking	0	Current smoker	13.1	17.7	9.3
	1	Former smoker, quit ≤ 12 mo ago	0.5	0.4	0.6
	2	Never smoker or quit > 12 mo ago	86.4	81.9	90
BMI	0	≥30 kg/m^2	33.5	44.2	24.9
	1	25.0-29.99 kg/m^2	47	43.5	49.8
	2	<25.0 kg/m^2	19.5	12.3	25.3
Physical Activity	0	No exercise	18.8	22.6	15.8
	1	1-149 min of moderate exercise or 1-74 min of vigorous exercise/week	16.9	16.9	16.8
	2	150+ min of moderate exercise or 75+ min of vigorous exercise/week	64.3	60.5	67.4
Diet	0	0-1 components of healthy diet	48.3	56.6	41.6
	1	2-3 components of healthy diet	50.3	42.5	56.6
	2	4-5 components of healthy diet	1.4	0.9	1.8
Cholesterol	0	≥ 240 mg/dL	12.5	11.3	13.5
	1	200-239 mg/dL or treated to <200 mg/dL	39.9	37.6	41.7
	2	<200 mg/dL, unmedicated	47.6	51.1	44.8
Blood Pressure	0	SBP ≥140 mm Hg or DBP ≥ mm Hg	46.1	55.4	38.7
	1	SBP 120-139 mm Hg or DBP 80-89 mm Hg or treated to <120/80 mm Hg	22.3	21.1	23.3
	2	<120/80 mm Hg, unmedicated	31.5	23.5	38.1
Blood Sugar	0	≥ 126 mg/dL fasting	8.9	14	4.9
	1	100-125 mg/dL fasting or treated to <100 mg/dL	13.4	16.2	11.2
	2	<100 mg/dL fasting, unmedicated	77.6	69.8	84
Total Cardiovascular Health Score		Inadequate (0-8)	49.3	63.4	37.9
		Average (9-10)	32.2	26.9	36.4
		Optimal (11-14)	18.5	9.7	25.6

^*MESA, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis; BMI, body mass index; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; SBP, systolic blood pressure. Both races are non-Hispanic.