Associations between Life's Essential 8 and abdominal aortic calcification among US Adults: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 1090
• Main Authors: Liu, Quanjun, Xiang, Hong, Chen, Shuhua, Ouyang, Jie, Liu, Huiqin, Zhang, Jing, Chai, Yanfei, Gao, Peng, Zhang, Xiao, Fan, Jianing, Zheng, Xinru, Lu, Hongwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 19.04.2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Abdomen; Abdominal aortic calcification; Adult; Adults; Algorithms; Aorta; Blood pressure; Body mass index; Calcification; Calcification (ectopic); Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular Diseases; Cardiovascular health; Coronary vessels; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; Diet; Divorce; Education; Ethnicity; Exercise; Gender; Glucose; Health aspects; Heart; Heart diseases; High school equivalency; Humans; Kidney diseases; Life’s Essential 8; Lipids; Marital status; NHANES; Nicotine; Nutrition research; Nutrition Surveys; Prevention; Regression analysis; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic; Research Design; Risk Factors; Secondary schools; Sleep; Smoking; Stroke; United States - epidemiology; United States; United States > US; Cardiovascular disease; NHANES; Cardiovascular health; Abdominal aortic calcification; Life’s Essential 8
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18622-7

Cardiovascular health (CVH) and abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) are closely linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related mortality. However, the relationship between CVH metrics via Life's Essential 8 (LE8) and AAC remains unexplored. The study analyzed data from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cohort, which included adults aged 40 or above. The research used the LE8 algorithm to evaluate CVH. Semi-quantitative AAC-24 scoring techniques were employed to assess AAC, categorized into no calcification, mild to moderate calcification, and severe calcification. The primary analysis involved 2,478 participants. Following adjustments for multiple factors, the LE8 score exhibited a significant association with ACC risk (Mild-moderate ACC: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.81,0.93; Severe ACC: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.69,0.87, all P < 0.001), indicating an almost linear dose-response relationship. Compared to the low CVH group, the moderate CVH group showed lower odds ratios (OR) for mild-moderate and severe calcification (OR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.61-0.99, P = 0.041; OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.46-0.99, P = 0.047, respectively). Moreover, the high CVH group demonstrated even lower ORs for mild-moderate and severe calcification (OR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.69, P < 0.001; OR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.59, P = 0.001, respectively). Interactions were found between chronic kidney disease (CKD) condition, history of CVD, marital status and CVH metrics to ACC. Participants without CKD exhibited a more pronounced negative association between the CVH metric and both mild-moderate and severe ACC. Those lacking a history of CVD, and never married/widowed/divorced/separated showed a stronger negative association between the CVH metric and severe ACC. The novel CVH metrics demonstrated an inverse correlation with the risk of AAC. These findings suggest that embracing improved CVH levels may assist in alleviating the burden of ACC.