Association of life’s essential 8 as a Cardiovascular Health Index with risk of chronic kidney disease; a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Due to the close association between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD), maintaining optimal cardiovascular health (CVH) may serve as a preventive strategy to reduce the risk of CKD and its related health burden. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) and the risk of CKD. Materials and Methods: This study systematically searched the Cochrane, Embase, PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases up to April 26, 2025. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 19 and STATA version 14. Results: An increase in the LE8 score was associated with a reduced risk of CKD, as indicated by the odds ratio (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.67–0.82) and hazard ratio (HR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.46–0.77). The protective effect of higher LE8 scores was observed across various subgroups: individuals aged 40–49 (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.78–0.84), 50–59 (OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.60–0.94), males (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.76–0.87), females (OR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.87–0.95), and populations from the UK (OR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.46–0.77), China (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.63–0.65), and the USA (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.72–0.81). Similarly, both cohort studies (OR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.54–0.81) and cross-sectional studies (OR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.66–0.81) confirmed this inverse association. Moreover, compared to low LE8 scores, moderate (OR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.52–0.65) and high (OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.35–0.53) LE8 scores were significantly associated with reduced CKD risk. Conclusion: An increase in the LE8 score was associated with a greater reduction in the risk of CKD in older age groups compared to younger ones, and in men compared to women. Moreover, the higher the LE8 score, the lower the risk of developing CKD. Registration: This study has been compiled based on the PRISMA checklist, and its protocol was registered on the PROSPERO (ID: CRD420251043587) and Research Registry (UIN: reviewregistry2006) websites.