According to researchers, population well-being is “a comprehensive and validated metric consisting of having a successful life career, social relationships, financial security, relationship to community, and good physical health.”
The cross-sectional study took data from the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index (WBI)—a surveying tool that asks Americans about five elements of their well-being (their career, social relationships, financial security, relationship to community, and physical health). For this study, researchers looked at survey data from 514,971 people across 3,228 U.S. counties collected between 2015 and 2017.
The researchers then analyzed those findings in relation to the county-level rates of CVD mortality from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)2 Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke3.
Researchers accounted for structural and health factors that might impact CVD mortality risks—such as income inequality, education, unemployment, and other diseases like diabetes and hypertension—to measure the significance of population well-being accurately.
After crunching the numbers, they found that deaths from cardiovascular disease decreased from an average of 499.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 438.6 deaths per 100,000 people in counties that had the highest self-reported well-being. Rates of stroke, heart failure, coronary heart disease, heart attack, and all-heart-disease mortality decreased as population well-being increased, the study states.
