Erin-Leigh Gallop, Pooja Kondeti, Hannah Gardener, Tatjana Rundek, Jose Gutierrez, Mitchell S V Elkind, Clinton B Wright, Bonnie Levin, Lily Wang, Christian Agudelo, Stephanie Assuras, Vanessa Guzman, Tali Elfassy
Mean age was 64 years, 60% of participants were female, 65% were Hispanic, and mean LE8 score was 60. Over 9 years, 175 participants developed dementia. Each 10-unit decrement in LE8 score was associated with a greater risk of dementia (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17-1.51).
INTRODUCTION: The American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8™ (LE8) defines cardiovascular health (CVH) using eight behavioral and clinical metrics. We examined the association between CVH and incident dementia.
METHODS: We used data from 920 dementia-free participants of the Northern Manhattan Study. LE8 scores (range: 0-100) were calculated from information on clinical and behavioral characteristics. Dementia was adjudicated by expert clinicians using neuropsychological assessments and clinical records. We used Cox proportional hazards models to determine associations adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and insurance.
RESULTS: Mean age was 64 years, 60% of participants were female, 65% were Hispanic, and mean LE8 score was 60. Over 9 years, 175 participants developed dementia. Each 10-unit decrement in LE8 score was associated with a greater risk of dementia (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17-1.51).
DISCUSSION: CVH is important for brain health, and our results support interventions aimed at improving CVH for prevention of dementia.