The association of life’s essential 8 scores trajectory patterns with the risk of all cancer types

The "Life's Essential 8" (LE8) is a comprehensive lifestyle assessment tool by the American Heart Association, designed to mitigate cardiovascular disease risk by optimizing lifestyle factors including diet, physical activity, and other health metrics. While individual components of LE8 have been linked to reduced cancer risks, comprehensive studies on LE8 score trajectories over time and their relation to cancer risk are lacking. This study employed the Kailuan cohort, involving 48,330 participants who underwent three health examinations from 2006 to 2010 to determine their LE8 scores. LE8 score trajectories were analyzed using latent mixture modeling, and their association with incident cancer risks was assessed through Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for confounders such as age, biological sex, and lifestyle behaviors. Three distinct LE8 trajectory patterns were identified: low-stable (21.2%), moderate-stable (49.4%), and elevated-stable (29.4%). Participants with elevated-stable trajectories showed a 21% (HR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.70-0.90), 27% (HR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.57-0.92), 51% (HR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.32-0.77), 31% (HR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.50-0.97) and 39% (HR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.39-0.95) reduction in overall, lung, breast, colorectal and liver cancer risk compared to those with low-stable scores. Notably, the protective effect of elevated-stable LE8 scores against breast cancer was pronounced in participants with elevated CRP levels, indicating an interaction between inflammation and LE8 trajectories. Maintaining high and stable LE8 scores significantly associated with reduced cancer risk, underscoring the importance of integrating LE8 into public health and clinical strategies for cancer prevention. Kailuan study, ChiCTR-TNRC-11,001,489. Registered August 24, 2011-Retrospectively registered, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=8050 .