Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank data

Abstract Background The healthy lifestyle factors have been closely associated with the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently released a checklist of health factors known as Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) to optimize cardiovascular health. The aim of this study w...

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Main Authors: Sixu Chen, Zegui Huang, Dachuan Guo, Chang Guan, Zhiteng Chen, Tingfeng Chen, Haifeng Zhang, Yangxin Chen, Jingfeng Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-07-01
Series:BMC Public Health
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22758-5
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author Sixu Chen
Zegui Huang
Dachuan Guo
Chang Guan
Zhiteng Chen
Tingfeng Chen
Haifeng Zhang
Yangxin Chen
Jingfeng Wang
author_facet Sixu Chen
Zegui Huang
Dachuan Guo
Chang Guan
Zhiteng Chen
Tingfeng Chen
Haifeng Zhang
Yangxin Chen
Jingfeng Wang
author_sort Sixu Chen
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background The healthy lifestyle factors have been closely associated with the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently released a checklist of health factors known as Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) to optimize cardiovascular health. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that greater adherence to the LE8 score was associated with a decreased risk of new-onset abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Methods This study included 279,251 UK Biobank participants without a history of AAA. LE8 score was calculated using 8 metrics according to the AHA’s definition, and the study population was divided into four groups based on LE8 quartile. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the association between LE8 score and risk of AAA. Results During a median follow-up of 12.77 years, 1042 cases of incident AAA were identified. After adjustment for potential confounders, the hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of AAA was 0.52 (0.43, 0.64) for the Q2 group, 0.39 (0.32, 0.49) for the Q3 group, and 0.20 (0.12, 0.28) for the Q4 group, when compared with the Q1 group (the lowest LE8 score). When analyzed as a continuous variable, each 5-point increase in LE8 score was associated with a 20% lower risk of AAA. The association between LE8 score and risk of AAA remained robust after sensitivity and subgroup analyses. Conclusion Higher LE8 score was associated with lower risk of AAA in the general population, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to prevent AAA.
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spelling doaj-art-120dd5b8a1714713b8ab30eeaaabb64c2025-08-20T04:02:50ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582025-07-012511810.1186/s12889-025-22758-5Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank dataSixu Chen0Zegui Huang1Dachuan Guo2Chang Guan3Zhiteng Chen4Tingfeng Chen5Haifeng Zhang6Yangxin Chen7Jingfeng Wang8Department of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, The Affiliated Panyu Central Hospital of Guangzhou Medical UniversilyDepartment of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityAbstract Background The healthy lifestyle factors have been closely associated with the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently released a checklist of health factors known as Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) to optimize cardiovascular health. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that greater adherence to the LE8 score was associated with a decreased risk of new-onset abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Methods This study included 279,251 UK Biobank participants without a history of AAA. LE8 score was calculated using 8 metrics according to the AHA’s definition, and the study population was divided into four groups based on LE8 quartile. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the association between LE8 score and risk of AAA. Results During a median follow-up of 12.77 years, 1042 cases of incident AAA were identified. After adjustment for potential confounders, the hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of AAA was 0.52 (0.43, 0.64) for the Q2 group, 0.39 (0.32, 0.49) for the Q3 group, and 0.20 (0.12, 0.28) for the Q4 group, when compared with the Q1 group (the lowest LE8 score). When analyzed as a continuous variable, each 5-point increase in LE8 score was associated with a 20% lower risk of AAA. The association between LE8 score and risk of AAA remained robust after sensitivity and subgroup analyses. Conclusion Higher LE8 score was associated with lower risk of AAA in the general population, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to prevent AAA.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22758-5Abdominal aortic aneurysmLife’s essential 8Healthy lifestylePreventionCardiovascular health
spellingShingle Sixu Chen
Zegui Huang
Dachuan Guo
Chang Guan
Zhiteng Chen
Tingfeng Chen
Haifeng Zhang
Yangxin Chen
Jingfeng Wang
Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank data
BMC Public Health
Abdominal aortic aneurysm
Life’s essential 8
Healthy lifestyle
Prevention
Cardiovascular health
title Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank data
title_full Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank data
title_fullStr Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank data
title_full_unstemmed Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank data
title_short Association between life’s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective cohort study from UK Biobank data
title_sort association between life s essential 8 score and the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm a prospective cohort study from uk biobank data
topic Abdominal aortic aneurysm
Life’s essential 8
Healthy lifestyle
Prevention
Cardiovascular health
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22758-5
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