The following is a summary of “Associations between Life’s Essential 8 and depression among US adults,” published in the August 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Zhao et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study exploring the association between Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) and depression among adults in the United States.
They used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2020 data for this cross-sectional study. The LE8 score was calculated from 8 metrics (diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health, body mass index, blood lipid, blood glucose, and blood pressure). Cardiovascular health (CVH) was categorized into low, moderate, and high based on LE8 tertiles. Depression was assessed using the PHQ-9, and weighted logistic regressions analyzed its association with CVH.
The results showed that people with moderate CVH had a 55% lower chance of depression (OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.37-0.55), and those with high CVH had a 79% lower chance (OR: 0.21, 95% CI: 0.15-0.30) compared to those with low CVH. These findings held up in further analyses. All LE8 metrics were linked to lower depression, with nicotine exposure and sleep health being major factors.
Investigators concluded that better CVH scores, as measured by LE8, were linked to lower depression rates. Focusing on improving sleep and quitting smoking could be especially helpful in preventing depression.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178124002713
