Purpose of review Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Strategies centered on individual risk factors have been insufficient to reduce population-level cardiovascular burden or to address persistent health inequities. This review is timely given the increasing emphasis on cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics, particularly the American Heart Association (AHA) Life's Essential 8 (LE8), and the growing recognition of social determinants of health (SDOH) as fundamental drivers of cardiovascular outcomes. Recent findings CVH, as defined by AHA frameworks, remains suboptimal across populations being a strong predictor of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Emerging evidence highlights food insecurity and other adverse SDOH as major contributors of poor CVH, acting primarily through modifiable behavioral domains such as diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, and sleep. LE8 mediates a substantial proportion of the link between social disadvantages and adverse cardiovascular outcomes, underscoring its potential utility as both risk assessment and intervention framework. Summary Collectively, current evidence supports a paradigm shift in cardiovascular prevention strategies that integrate CVH metrics with SDOH. LE8 provides a practical and scalable framework to assess CVH and target modifiable pathways linking social disadvantages to CVD. Future research and interventions should adopt multilevel, equity-focused, and life-course–oriented approaches to effectively reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Porras‐Pérez et al. (Fri,) studied this question.