High Life's Essential 10 score links to longer disease-free life
Compared with low scores, high cardiovascular health was associated with lower all-cause mortality (men: aHR 0.43; women: aHR 0.34) and more disease-free years at age 50.
European Heart Journal Quality of Care & Clinical Outcomes
In 110,806 UK Biobank participants and 20,031 NHANES participants, researchers evaluated how cardiovascular health based on Life's Essential 10 relates to mortality, disease incidence, and healthspan. Life's Essential 10 adds alcohol intake and mental health to Life's Essential 8, grading cardiovascular health as low, moderate, or high.
Over a median follow-up of 13.8 years in UK Biobank, high cardiovascular health was associated with lower all-cause mortality compared to low health (adjusted hazard ratio 0.43 in men and 0.34 in women). It was also linked to reduced cardiovascular disease and cancer incidence and mortality. At age 50, high cardiovascular health conferred greater projected life expectancy free of cardiovascular disease and cancer (men +4.02 years, women +4.40 years) and overall life expectancy (men +5.47 years, women +5.85 years). Consistent associations were observed across a 7.2-year follow-up in the NHANES cohort.
Why it matters
Modifiable lifestyle and cardiovascular health factors are linked to lower rates of major chronic diseases and longer disease-free survival in adults. Adding mental health and alcohol consumption to cardiovascular health scores may offer practical targets for supporting healthspan.
Caveats
The observational design means these findings show associations rather than cause and effect. In addition, the estimated differences in life expectancy rely on statistical survival models rather than observed lifetime tracking of participants.
The paper
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Feiran Yang, Qing Ye, Ray W. Squires, Thomas Patrick Olson, Jeffrey William Ripley-Gonzalez, Xinyin Wu,Mayo Clinic · Central South University
European Heart Journal Quality of Care & Clinical Outcomes · 1 Oct 2026