Life's Essential 8 score and arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes

OBJECTIVE: Research examining the connection between Life's Essential 8 score (LE8) and arterial stiffness (AS) in patients with diabetes is currently insufficient. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cardiovascular health and the development of AS in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a cohort study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 2,685 patients with T2D were enrolled in this study. All patients were divided into four groups based on quartiles of cumulative exposure of LE8 (cum-LE8) score. The study endpoint was increased AS (iAS), which was defined as a brachial - ankle pulse wave velocity ≥ 1800 cm/s. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine the cumulative incidence of iAS, while the log-rank test was utilized to evaluate the differences among groups. Cox proportional hazards regression model was applied to investigate the impact of various cum-LE8 groups on the risk of iAS. RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 9.76 years, we identified 1,375 cases of iAS. The incidence rate of iAS in the quartile 1-4 were 71.02 (64.24-78.52), 67.68 (61.13-74.94), 56.05 (50.28-62.47) and 50.47 (45.05-56.53) per 1000 person-years, respectively. The cumulative incidence of iAS was highest in quartile 1 and gradually decreased from quartile 1 to quartile 4 (log-rank P < 0.01). Compared with quartile 1, the hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of quartile 2-4 were 0.69 (0.59-0.80), 0.41 (0.35-0.49), and 0.15 (0.12-0.18), respectively. CONCLUSION: Attaining a superior long-term cardiovascular health status is related to a reduced risk of iAS.