Application of Life's Essential 8 to assess cardiovascular health during early childhood

Wei Perng; Izzuddin M Aris; Natalie Slopen; Nolan Younoszai; Valerie Swanson; Noel T Mueller; Katherine A Sauder; Dana Dabelea

doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2023.02.004

Application of Life's Essential 8 to assess cardiovascular health during early childhood

Ann Epidemiol. 2023 Apr:80:16-24. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2023.02.004. Epub 2023 Feb 10.

Authors

Wei Perng¹, Izzuddin M Aris², Natalie Slopen³, Nolan Younoszai⁴, Valerie Swanson⁴, Noel T Mueller⁵, Katherine A Sauder⁶, Dana Dabelea⁶

Affiliations

¹ Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO; Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO. Electronic address: Wei.Perng@CUAnschutz.edu.
² Division of Chronic Disease Research Across the Lifecourse, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA.
³ Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
⁴ Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
⁶ Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO; Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, CO.

Abstract

Purpose: Assess cardiovascular health (CVH) during early childhood using the American Heart Association's recently updated construct, Life's Essential 8 (LE8); examine concordance in CVH status per LE8 versus Life's Simple 7 (LS7); and identify perinatal correlates of high CVH per LE8.

Methods: We applied LE8 and LS7 to data from 305 children aged 4-7 years in Denver, CO; estimated % low, moderate, high, and optimal CVH; assessed concordance in CVH status based on LE8 and LS7 using contingency tables; and used multivariable logistic regression to identify early-life correlates of high CVH per LE8.

Results: Average age of children was 4.7 ± 0.6 years, 44.6% were female. No participants had low or optimal CVH, 43.9% had high, and 56.1% had moderate CVH per LE8, whereas 33.4% had high and 66.6% had moderate CVH per LS7. Twenty-two percent had high CVH based on both constructs. Correlates of high CVH were maternal prenatal diet quality (odds ratio_{Healthy Eating Index score>vs. ≤57} = 1.90 [1.12, 3.21]) and child age (odds ratio_{per 1 year} = 1.58 [1.04. 2.42]).

Conclusions: LE8 yielded higher prevalence of high CVH than LS7 during early childhood, though there is modest concordance between the two constructs. Maternal diet is a potential modifiable target to optimize early-life CVH.

Keywords: Cardiovascular health; Epidemiology; Ideal cardiovascular health; Optimal cardiovascular health; Pediatrics; Prenatal correlates; Primordial prevention.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
American Heart Association
Cardiovascular System*
Child
Child Health* / statistics & numerical data
Child, Preschool
Colorado
Female
Health Status*
Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Mothers
Odds Ratio
Pregnancy / physiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding