Gender-dependent association between cardiovascular health and cognitive function in chinese older adults: a...

This study investigated the gender-dependent association of cardiovascular health, assessed by Life's Essential 8 (LE8), with cognitive function in Chinese older adults.

Logistic regression was used to explore the relationships between LE8 scores and incident cognitive impairment as well as cognitive decline. Gender differences were examined by subgroup analyses. A generalized linear model (GLM) was used to assess the mean difference of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores across LE8 groups.

Based on logistic regression, LE8 scores were inversely correlated with prevalence of baseline cognitive impairment (OR = 0.49, 95%CI: 0.30,0.84). Higher LE8 scores were associated with reduced risk of incident cognitive impairment among participants with normal cognition at baseline (OR = 0.56, 95%CI: 0.31,0.99), although there was no significant relationship between high LE8 scores and cognitive decline. Based on subgroup analyses, there was a significant gender-based association of LE8 with incident cognitive impairment (P = 0.022), but not with cognitive decline (P = 0.424). In the female subgroup, higher LE8 scores were associated with low risk of incident cognitive impairment (OR = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.13,0.64). Based on GLM analysis, the adjusted mean MMSE score of the high LE8 group was higher than that of the low LE8 group among all participants with follow-up (adjusted mean difference = 0.44, 95%CI: 0.03,0.85); similar results were observed among those with normal cognition at baseline.

A higher LE8 score was significantly associated with better cognitive function in Chinese female but not male older adults.