Associations between Life’s Essential 8 with Depression in U.S. Adult: A nationally representative cross-sectional study

Background The comprehensive impact of cardiovascular health behaviors and factors on the risk of depression is closely related. Our objective was to evaluate the correlation between the quantifiable cardiovascular health(CVH) index - known as Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) score and depression. Method We employed weighted multiple logistic regression to assess the association between the LE8 score with depression. The restricted Cubic Spline (RCS) model was utilized to evaluate potential non-linear relationships. Results A total of 25,794 U.S. adults were enrolled. In the multivariate model, a negative linear association between LE8 score and the risk of depression was observed in both males (OR for a per 10-scores increase:0.75, 95%CI: 0.70,0.81) and females(OR for a per 10-scores increase:0.69, 95%CI:0.65,0.74),. Similar patterns were noted in the association between health behavior and health factor scores with depression in females. Among males, a negative linear relationship is evident between depression and health behavior scores, while no significant association is observed with health factor scores. Regarding the LE8 components, a strong negative association between depression and sleep health scores is observed regardless of gender. Subgroup analysis demonstrated a stronger negative linear association between LE8 and depression in the Other Hispanic population, individuals with higher income, and those with higher levels of education, in both males and females. Conclusions The current study demonstrates a negative correlation between adults' LE8 score and the presence of depression. Enhancing compliance with LE8 may serve as an effective preventive and management strategy for reducing the burden of depression.