Adherence to "Life's Essential 8" could improve brain health outcomes

“Making lifestyle changes to improve cardiovascular health during middle age could significantly decrease the risk of developing poor brain health events later in life, according to research being presented by scientists from Yale School of Medicine at the 2024 International Stroke Conference.

The "Life's Essential 8" (LE8) are a research and public health construct spearheaded by the American Heart Association (AHA) to capture lifestyle determinants of heart health including physical activity, diet, sleep duration, smoking status, body mass index, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol. A YSM team led by Santiago Clocchiatti-Tuozzo, MD, set out to find whether adhering to these guidelines could impact clinical manifestations of poor brain health.

Researchers used the LE8 Score, a validated tool that captures the LE8 components, to classify participants with either optimal, intermediate, or poor cardiovascular health. Comparing individual level-data from more than 400,000 individuals from two distinct cohort studies, the team found that patients with poor cardiovascular health had a more than two-fold increase in the risk of stroke, dementia or late life depression compared to those with optimal cardiovascular health (OR 2.20; 95% CI 1.99 – 2.42; p<0.001).

Cyprien Rivier, MD, Daniela Renedo, MD, Shufan Huo, MD, PhD, Victor Torres Lopez, Adam de Havenon, MD, Kevin Sheth, MD, Thomas Gill, MD,  and Guido Falcone, MD were also authors of the study.