The impact of Life's Essentials 8 on sarcopenia prevalence among adults in the United States

Background

Sarcopenia is closely associated with cardiovascular disease. We aimed to examine the association of Life's Essential 8 (LE8), the recently updated measurement of cardiovascular health (CVH), with the presence of sarcopenia among US adults.

Methods

This population-based cross-sectional study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2005–2006 and 2011–2018, and included adults aged 20 years or older. LE8 score was measured according to American Heart Association definitions. Sarcopenia was measured according to the National Institutes of Health definition, the ratio of appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) to body mass index (BMI). Multivariable logistic and restricted cubic spline models were used to assess the associations between LE8 and sarcopenia.

Results

Among the 11,078 participants, 1021 (9.22 %) were diagnosed with sarcopenia. After adjusting for potential confounders, higher LE8, health behavior and health factors scores were associated with reduced odds ratios (OR) of sarcopenia (OR for per 10 scores increase in LE8, 0.65; 95 % CI 0.61–0.70; OR for per 10 scores increase in health behaviors score, 0.90; 95 % CI 0.84–0.97; OR for per 10 scores increase in health factors score, 0.67; 95 % CI 0.63–0.71). A non-linear dose-response relationship was observed between LE8 scores, health factors scores, and sarcopenia. The inversed association between LE8 score and sarcopenia was significantly stronger among males and participants with a high school education or above.

Conclusions

LE8 was negatively associated with the prevalence of sarcopenia in a nonlinear fashion. Promoting adherence to optimal CVH levels may benefit to reduce the risk of sarcopenia.