- The lifestyle decisions made by young adults in the US do not always result in good health’
- Cardiometabolic disorders were more common than before.
- Compared to white and Hispanic people, black people had greater rates of hypertension.
The lifestyle decisions made by young adults in the United States do not always result in good health, according to a recent study.
The study looked at 10,405 people between the ages of 18 and 44 and evaluated five lifestyle risk factors: current smoking, excessive drinking, a poor diet, insufficient physical activity, and improper sleep patterns. These risk variables were more common than average in a range of 16% for excessive drinking to 49% for a poor diet.
Impairing the cardiometabolic health
From 4% for diabetes to 37% for high cholesterol, cardiometabolic disorders were more common than before. White people were more likely to smoke and drink too much than Hispanic and Asian Americans, but they were also less likely to have a bad diet, do too little exercise, or sleep too much than Black Americans.
Aside from poor physical exercise, Asians had the lowest prevalence of other lifestyle risk factors. White persons had lower rates of obesity, prediabetes, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease than Black and Hispanic people.
Compared to white and Hispanic people, black people had greater rates of hypertension but lower rates of high cholesterol and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Among all racial and ethnic subgroups, Hispanic persons had the greatest prevalence of metabolic syndrome.
Lower rates of lifestyle risk factors and cardiometabolic disorders were observed in those with a more favorable social risk factor profile, which included greater levels of education, income, food security, and health insurance.
After taking into account social risk factors and lifestyle factors, racial and ethnic differences in many cardiometabolic disorders persisted but diminished.
