Cardiovascular health in Brazilian state capitals 1.

Objective: to estimate the prevalence of ideal cardiovascular health indicators in the Brazilian population, according to gender, age, education and region of residence.

Method: cross-sectional study that used data from 41,134 participants of the Surveillance System of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (Vigitel). The ideal cardiovascular health assessment considers four behavioral factors: not smoking; body mass index less than 25 kg/m2; practicing physical activity, eating fruits and vegetables five or more times per day; and two clinical factors (no diagnosis of diabetes or hypertension).