0087 Associations between AHA’s Life’s Essential 8 and cognition in a sample of diverse midlife adults

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Life’s Simple 7 (LS7), originally proposed as the seven most important predictors of heart health, is associated with negative cognitive outcomes. Recently an updated Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) added sleep as the new eighth component. However, limited research has investigated LE8 and cognitive outcomes. We hypothesize that a higher composite LE8 score will be associated with better cognitive performance. Methods Cross-sectional analyses were conducted including 1498 adults (36-76 years old, 41% male, 61% African American) from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Life Span (HANDLS) study who completed all LE8 and global cognition measurements in wave 4 data collection (2013-2017). Blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, BMI, diet, physical activity, and smoking were calculated based on available wave 4 data per LE8 scoring guidance. The sleep component was scored based on the sleep duration question from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (“During the past month, how many hours of actual sleep did you get at night?”). LE8 score was calculated by averaging the scores from the eight components. Cognitive performance was measured from a Joggle battery to calculate a total global cognition score and individual domains (memory, attention, visual orientation, executive function, speed). A set of linear regression analyses were performed. Covariates included biological age, sex, race, poverty status, sleep apnea, education attainment (high school), reading literacy, and depression (CES-D). Results Higher scores on LE8 were significantly associated with better global cognitive performance, even after adjusting for covariates (b=0.024, p = .014). Among all cognitive domains, higher LE8 scores were significantly associated with better memory (b = 0.011, p < .001), attention (b=0.012, p = .007), but not visual orientation, executive function, or speed. Conclusion Better cardiovascular health, as indicated by a higher LE8 composite score, is associated with better cognitive performance among U.S. middle-aged and older adults. Future studies may further explore this relationship using longitudinal data and explore the predictive power of each LE8 component. Support (if any) UF1AG072619 (PI: Gamaldo)