CORRELATION BETWEEN THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION LIFE'S SIMPLE 7 AND LIFE'S ESSENTIAL 8 SCORES IN A COHORT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ADULTS

Abstract

Therapeutic Area

ASCVD/CVD Risk Factors

Background

The American Heart Association (AHA) recently updated its Life's Simple 7 (LS7) cardiovascular health metric to Life's Essential 8 (LE8) by including sleep health and recognition of psychosocial influences on cardiovascular health. African American adults face psychosocial and structural factors affecting sleep and the achievement of optimal cardiovascular health; thus, we examined the correlation between LS7 and LE8 scores in a community sample of African American adults.

Methods

Demographic, behavioral (e.g., diet), and clinical (e.g., lipids) measures were collected from African American adults at 16 churches in Minnesota as part of a randomized controlled trial (FAITH! Trial) and an accompanying ancillary study (Heart Health+). We computed LS7 (range: 0-14) and LE8 scores (range: 0-100), indicating low to high cardiovascular health, as per AHA recommendations. Pearson correlation was used to assess the linear correlation between the two cardiovascular health scores.

Results

Participants (N=58) were predominantly female (67%), with a mean age of 54 (SD 12) years and high cardiometabolic risk (93% had overweight/obesity) (Table 1). Mean composite LS7 and LE8 scores were 6.7 [1.9] and 56.9 [11.6], respectively. Mean LE8 scores were highest for tobacco/nicotine exposure (84.1 [24.2]) and lowest for diet (30.3 [12.4]). LE8 was strongly correlated with LS7 (r=0.84, p<0.001).

Conclusions

In African American adults, the new LE8 score correlates well with LS7, a well-established metric for measuring cardiovascular health. LE8 score may aid in monitoring tailored interventions that target psychosocial factors to enhance cardiovascular health in this population.