Chang Sun,1,* Xin Xin Zhang,2,* Jie Cao1 

1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Nephrology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Jie Cao, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 154 Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin, 300052, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-22-6036-1612, Email tjcaojie@163.com

Aims: The purpose of this prospective cohort study was to examine the association of Life Essential 8 (LE8), the recently updated algorithm for quantifying cardiovascular health (CVH) by the American Heart Association (AHA), with the risk of mortality in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients.
Methods: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007– 2012 and the National Death Index mortality data up to December 31, 2019, were included in this cohort analysis. To characterize the relationship between LE8 and CVD and all-cause mortality as well as assess any potential nonlinear relationships, the limited cubic spline mixed with the Cox proportional hazards model was used.
Results: The final analysis included 785 subjects. The weighted mean age of the study population was 59 years, and 479 were male. In the overall population, every 10-point increase in the LE8 score was individuals with associated with reduced risks of 4% for CVD mortality; moderate CVH had a 23% lower risk of COPD, while high CVH was linked to a 40% lower risk compared to low CVH. Among the COPD individuals, every 10-point increase in the LE8 score was associated with reduced risks of 4% for all-cause mortality,8% for CLRD mortality, and 12% for cancer mortality.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that low levels of LE8 were associated with increased risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in COPD individuals.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, life essential 8, cardiovascular disease, mortality