Plasma Metabolites and Life's Simple 7 in REGARDS

The American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 (LS7) is a health metric that captures important factors associated with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health. Previous studies highlight the potential of plasma metabolites to serve as a marker for lifestyle and health behavior that could be a target for stroke prevention. The objectives of this study were to identify metabolites that were associated with LS7 and incident ischemic stroke and mediate the relationship between the two.

Targeted metabolomic profiling of 162 metabolites by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to identify candidate metabolites in a stroke case-cohort nested within the REGARDS study (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke). Weighted linear regression and weighted Cox proportional hazard models were used to identify metabolites that were associated with LS7 and incident ischemic stroke, respectively. Effect measures were based on a 1-SD change in metabolite level. Metabolite mediators were examined using inverse odds ratio weighting mediation analysis.

The study comprised 1075 ischemic stroke cases and 968 participants in the random cohort sample. Three out of 162 metabolites were associated with the overall LS7 score including guanosine (β, -0.46 [95% CI, -0.65 to -0.27]; P=2.87×10^-6), cotinine (β, -0.49 [95% CI, -0.70 to -0.28]; P=7.74×10^-6), and acetylneuraminic acid (β, -0.59 [95% CI, -0.77 to -0.42]; P=4.29×10^-11). Guanosine (hazard ratio, 1.47 [95% CI, 1.31-1.65]; P=6.97×10^-11), cotinine (hazard ratio, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.16-1.44]; P=2.09×10^-6), and acetylneuraminic acid (hazard ratio, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.15-1.45]; P=9.24×10^-6) were associated with incident ischemic stroke. The mediation analysis identified guanosine (27% mediation, indirect effect; P=0.002), cotinine (30% mediation, indirect effect; P=0.004), and acetylneurminic acid (22% mediation, indirect effect; P=0.041) partially mediated the relationship between LS7 and ischemic stroke.

We identified guanosine, cotinine, and acetylneuraminic acid that were associated with LS7, incident ischemic stroke, and mediated the relationship between LS7 and ischemic stroke.