Abstract 92: Stroke Survivors Experience Greater Decline in Life’s Simple 7 Score for Cardiovascular Health Over 10-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

Introduction: Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) is a measure of cardiovascular health based on seven domains of smoking, diet, physical activity, body mass index, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting glucose. Due to secondary prevention efforts, stroke survivors may experience improvements in LS7 scores over time compared to those who did not experience a stroke. Methods: We included participants over 45 years of age enrolled in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study who had LS7 data at baseline and 10-year follow-up and did not report a history of stroke at baseline (N=7568). Of these, 361 had an adjudicated ischemic stroke between the LS7 assessments. Scores on each domain of LS7 range from 1-3 for a maximum total score of 21, where a higher score represents better cardiovascular health. A general linear model was used to test the association of having an ischemic stroke on the change in LS7 score. Covariates included the LS7 score at baseline, age, race, gender, cognitive status, and education. Results: Findings indicated that those who were younger, African American, and had lower levels of education, experienced significant decline in LS7 scores from baseline to follow-up (Table 1). Those who had a stroke also experienced, on average, 0.25 points more decline in total LS7 scores than those who did not have a stroke (p=0.048). Conclusions: Stroke survivors did not experience improvements in cardiovascular health due to secondary prevention after an ischemic stroke. On the contrary, they experienced significantly greater decline, indicating the need for greater efforts in lifestyle modification and secondary prevention after a stroke.