Key result
Higher Life's Essential 8 score linked to ~22% lower CVD mortality per SD.
Why the study?
With a rapidly growing older population, it is important to investigate cardiovascular health factors and behaviors associated with CVD and mortality in older individuals.
Does better cardiovascular health, assessed by the Life's Essential 8 score, reduce cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in community-dwelling older adults?
Cohort (n=920)
Yes
Does better cardiovascular health, assessed by the Life's Essential 8 score, reduce cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in community-dwelling older adults?
Better cardiovascular health, as measured by the Life's Essential 8 score, is significantly associated with reduced risks of both cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older adults.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Supports CV health promotion in older adults; hypothesis-generating pending RCTs to confirm mortality benefit.
Introduction: The older population is growing fast, and it is important to investigate the cardiovascular health factors and behaviors that are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality among older individuals. Methods: A total of 920 older adults (mean age: 74 years, 55% women) from the InCHIANTI study were included for analysis. Cardiovascular health (CVH) was assessed using the Life's Essential 8 (LE8) developed by the American Heart Association, including 8 health behaviors (smoking, diet, physical activity, sleep) and factors (body mass index, blood cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure). The LE8 score ranges from 0 to 100, with higher score indicating better CVH. CVH was analyzed on both a continuous scale [per 1 standard deviation (SD) increase] and categorical scale [low (CVH) score < 50 vs. moderate/high (CVH) score ≥ 50]. Cox hazard models were used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) of CVD and all-cause mortality associated with CVH and its components adjusting for age, sex, study site, education, presence of ADL and IADL limitations, cognitive impairment, depression, and presence of chronic disease. Discussion: Among older community dwelling men and women, better CVH is inversely associated with CVD and all-cause mortality, and this lends credence to the importance of prioritizing health factors and behaviors in preventing chronic disease and promoting healthier lives among older adults.
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Sarma et al. (2025) conducted a cohort in Cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality (n=920). Life's Essential 8 (LE8) score vs. Lower LE8 score was evaluated on Cardiovascular disease mortality (HR 0.78, 95% CI 0.68-0.90, p=0.001). A one standard deviation increase in Life's Essential 8 score reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality by 22% (HR 0.78) and all-cause mortality by 17% among older adults.
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