It's Never Too Early, It's Never Too Late: The Potential of Health Behaviors for Cardiovascular Health in Nonagenarians. Data From the Mugello Study.

Background: The Life's Essential 8 (LE8) is a composite metric including 4 health behaviors (diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, and sleep) and 4 health factors (body mass index, nonhigh-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure). This study aimed to describe the cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics promoted by LE8 in nonagenarians and to investigate their relationship with mortality at 5 and 10 years.

Methods: This study was conducted within the framework of the Mugello Study, a longitudinal survey on nonagenarians living in the Mugello area (Tuscany, Italy). One-hundred and fifty-seven subjects (42 males and 115 females, median age 92 years) were administered a series of validated questionnaires and underwent instrumental examinations and blood withdrawal. CVH metrics were calculated according to LE8 guidelines. Physical activity and sleep duration were quantitatively estimated using a monitor device.

Results: In the male group, after 5 and 10 years of follow-up, a higher Health Behavior score was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 0.963, p = .005 and HR: 0.972, p = .020; after 5 and 10 years). Differently, in the female group, no significant association was observed between the LE8 total score and subscores and different risk of mortality after 5 and 10 years from the interview.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of potentially modifiable behaviors in improving survival. They support resource investments to address the needs of individuals in this stage of life and encourage them to be empowered and actively engage in health-promoting behaviors.