Cardiovascular (CV) health has declined in the US from 1988 to 2014, racial/ethnic and nativity disparities persist, and decreased disparities seem to be due to worsening CV health among whites rather than gains among African Americans and Mexican Americans. The cross-sectional study included adults aged ≥25 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2988 to 2014, who did not report CVD. Researchers found:

• Rates of optimal CV health remain <40% among whites, 25% among Mexican Americans, and 15% among African Americans.
• Disparities in optimal CV health between whites and African Americans persisted but decrease over time.
• Disparities in optimal Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) scores decreased during the study period between whites and African Americans and also between whites and Mexican Americans, but were smaller.