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. 2025 Jul 9:16:1563288.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1563288. eCollection 2025.

Sustained high Life's Essential 8 is associated with lower risk of cerebral small vessel disease: a community-based study

Huijing Shi #  1 , Liufu Cui #  1 , Ying Hui  2 , Rong Shu  1 , Haicheng Song  1 , Jierui Wang  1 , Ping Yu  1 , Shuohua Chen  3 , Jing Li  4 , Xiaoliang Liang  5 , Chunyu Ruan  3 , Jing Chen  2 , Zhenchang Wang  6 , Shouling Wu  3 , Xiaoshuai Li  6
Affiliations

Sustained high Life's Essential 8 is associated with lower risk of cerebral small vessel disease: a community-based study

Huijing Shi et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to investigate the influence of Life's Essential 8 (LE8) score trajectories on cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD).

Methods: A total of 1,162 subjects from the Kailuan prospective cohort study were enrolled. The LE8 score trajectories were developed from 2006 to 2021 using trajectory modeling of the SAS procedure Proc Traj. Participants were classified into three trajectory models: low stable group, medium stable group, and high stable group. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed at the last follow-up. Ordered logistic regression and binary logistic regression models were employed to analyze the association between LE8 trajectory groups and the total CSVD score. Furthermore, we examined the relationship between LE8 trajectory groups and Various CSVD Lesions: lacunar infarcts, cerebral microbleeds (CMB), white matter hyperintensities (WMH), and enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS).

Results: (1) There is a negative association between sustained high LE8 scores and the risk of CSVD. The odds ratios (OR) for an increased risk of elevated CSVD scores in the medium and high stable groups compared to the low stable group were 0.65 (95% CI: 0.47-0.88) and 0.44 (95% CI: 0.30-0.63), both of which were statistically significant. (2) LE8 had the most significant impact on lacunar infarcts, EPVS and WMH. The ORs for an increased risk of lacunar infarcts in the medium and high stable groups compared to the low stable group were 0.56 (95% CI: 0.37-0.86) and 0.25 (95% CI: 0.14-0.47), respectively. The ORs for an increased risk of BG-EPVS were 0.49 (95% CI: 0.30-0.81) and 0.31 (95% CI: 0.18-0.54), respectively. The ORs for an increased risk of WMH were 0.49 (95% CI: 0.64-1.38) and 0.58 (95% CI: 0.36-0.95), respectively. However, LE8 showed no statistically significant impact on CMB.

Conclusion: In summary, our study revealed that sustained high Life's Essential 8 scores have a protective effect against cerebral small vessel disease.

Keywords: Life’s Essential 8; cardiovascular health; cerebral small vessel disease; risk; trajectories.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the current study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Life’s Essential 8 trajectories.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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