Abstract 17266: Associations of Life’s Essential 8 With Phenotypic Age in a Nationally Representative Cohort of US Adults

Abstract

Introduction: Phenotypic age (PhenoAge), a new biomarker-based biological aging measure, captures morbidity and mortality risk in the general population. Associations of cardiovascular health (CVH), based on the enhanced Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) framework, with PhenoAge and phenotypic age acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel) have not been evaluated. Hypothesis: Higher CVH will be associated with lower PhenoAge and PhenoAgeAccel in US adults. Methods: Participants were 6,593 men and women from the 2015-2018 NHANES (mean age: 47y, 50% female, 6% Asian, 10% Black, 16% Hispanic, 64% White). The overall and component CVH scores were calculated using the LE8 framework. PhenoAge was computed from nine biomarkers and chronological age. PhenoAgeAccel was the difference between PhenoAge and chronological age, with higher positive values indicating faster biological aging. Survey-weighted multivariable linear models were used to evaluate the overall and component CVH scores in relation to PhenoAge and PhenoAgeAccel. Results: Participants with high CVH had negative PhenoAgeAccel, while those with low CVH had positive PhenoAgeAccel (-4.20 vs. 2.36; p<0.01). Each 10-unit increase in the LE8 score was associated with lower PhenoAge (β(95%CI): -4.82 (-5.28, -4.36)) and PhenoAgeAccel (β(95%CI): -1.80 (-1.98, -1.62)). Those with high vs. low CVH had lower PhenoAge (β(95%CI): -17.15 (-18.98, -15.33)) and PhenoAgeAccel (β(95%CI): -6.08 (-6.76, -5.41)) (p-trend<0.001). Being in the highest vs. lowest tertile of all LE8 metrics was associated with negative PhenoAgeAccel (p-trend<0.01) (Table). Further, being in the highest vs. lowest tertile of the physical activity, BMI, glucose, blood lipids, and blood pressure scores was related to having lower PhenoAge (p-trend<0.05). Conclusions: CVH is inversely associated with PhenoAge and PhenoAgeAccel with evidence of a dose-response relation. Improving CVH may decelerate biological aging and reduce associated morbidity.