Life's Essential 8 and cerebrovascular disease among Hispanic/Latino adults: findings from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos and Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging magnetic resonance imaging cohort

INTRODUCTION: Better cardiovascular health (CVH) is associated with better cognitive function, but limited data exist on its association with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) burden using the Life's Essential 8 (LE8) metric, particularly among Hispanic/Latino adults. METHODS: LE8 scores (range: 0 to 100) were calculated at baseline (2008 to 2011). Brain magnetic resonance imaging volumetric outcomes (2017 to 2022) included cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) burden (infarcts, cerebral microbleeds, high white matter hyperintensity [WMH] burden, enlarged perivascular spaces), gray matter (GM), and WMH volumes. Survey-weighted regression models examined associations between LE8, adjusting for demographic factors. RESULTS: Among 2211 participants (mean age [SE] = 57.6 [8.0] years, 58.5% female), higher LE8 score was associated with reduced cSVD burden and lower odds of infarcts and WMH burden. Higher LE8 scores were associated with greater total and frontal GM and lower WMH volumes. DISCUSSION: Better CVH was associated with reduced CVD burden and greater GM volume in Hispanic/Latino adults.