Abstract MP35: The American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 and Mortality by Race and Sex in the U.S.: the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Cohort

Abstract

Background: The Life’s Simple 7 (LSS) metric is being used by AHA to track the cardiovascular health of the United States population and move toward a 2020 impact goal for improvement. Levels of LSS are associated with mortality risk but there are limited data on whether this association differs by race or sex. Hypothesis: There will be sex and race differences in the association of LSS with mortality in the REGARDS cohort study. Methods: We studied 29,692 REGARDS participants; a population sample of black and white men and women aged 45-98 from across the US, enrolled in 2003-7. Extensive baseline risk factor data were measured in participants’ homes. The 7 LSS components (blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, body-mass index, smoking, physical activity, diet) were each scored in AHA-defined categories of poor (0 points), intermediate (1 point) and ideal (2 points), and were summed to yield scores ranging from poor for all (0) to ideal for all (14). With 6.4 years follow up there were 3709 deaths. Results: The LSS score was normally distributed with mean (SD) of 7.9 (2.0) in whites and 6.9 (2.0) in blacks. The age, region, income and education adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of death for a 1-unit worse LSS score, stratified by race and sex, are shown in the table. Race and sex interactions were tested individually in separate models. While better scores for LSS were strongly associated with lower mortality, associations differed by race and sex, being weaker in blacks than whites and in men than women. Conclusion: There were large associations of LSS with mortality risk in the REGARDS national sample; 1 point difference in score, corresponding to movement from poor to intermediate or intermediate to ideal for 1 of the 7 factors, was associated with a 16% lower risk of death in white women, 14% lower risk in white men or black women, but only an 11% lower risk in black men. Observed differences in the association of LSS with mortality by race and sex should be considered in efforts to gauge the impact of LSS interventions on health disparities.