Association between life's essential 8 and Parkinson's disease: a case-control study

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Health and Neurology
• Public Health and Epidemiology

Background:

• Cardiovascular health (CVH) is crucial for overall well-being.
• Life's Essential 8 (LE8) metrics offer a comprehensive assessment of CVH.
• The relationship between LE8 metrics and Parkinson's disease (PD) risk remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between Life's Essential 8 (LE8) metrics and the prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) in US adults.
• To explore potential gender differences in this association.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 26,975 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005-2018.
• Calculated LE8 metrics based on American Heart Association criteria and analyzed their association with PD using multivariate logistic regression.
• Employed sensitivity analysis, restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis, and subgroup analysis to validate findings and explore nonlinear relationships and interactions.

Main Results:

• A significant inverse association was found between continuous LE8 metrics and PD risk (OR=0.97, P<0.01).
• Participants in the high LE8 metric group had a substantially lower odds of PD compared to the low group (OR=0.51, P<0.01).
• A nonlinear relationship was observed, and the association was stronger in females compared to males (P interaction=0.029).

Conclusions:

• Improved cardiovascular health, as indicated by LE8 metrics, is associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease in a dose-response manner.
• The protective effect of LE8 metrics against PD is more pronounced in women.
• These findings suggest LE8 metrics can inform targeted, gender-specific strategies for PD prevention and management.