Research SquareNov 5, 2026, 03:19 GMT

Lower heart health scores linked to multiple cardiovascular diseases

Persistently low scorers had 4.04 times the odds of hypertension with heart disease or stroke compared with persistently high scorers.

Paper by Yanjiao Li, Jiao Xue, Guojuan Liu · Inner Mongolia Medical University · Inner Mongolia People's Hospital

A large damaged heart cutaway sits beside a smaller intact heart, a thick-walled artery cross-section, and a brain section with a damaged patch.

Our read

Biomarkers

Studied:: Preprint: cohort study of 4,547 Chinese adults without cardiovascular disease, 2015–2020 (Dose-response, independent replication)
What changed:: Persistently low heart-health scorers had 4.04 times the odds of hypertension with heart disease or stroke compared with high scorers
The catch:: Only adults who completed all three examinations were included, excluding those who missed examinations
Why it’s aging research:: It measures an outcome that worsens with age.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

Chinese adults aged 45 and older without cardiovascular disease—4,646 people—were included in an observational cohort study. All completed physical examinations in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Researchers used a seven-component heart health score that excluded diet to identify persistently high, moderate and low scoring groups.

During 2015–2020, 330 of 4,547 at-risk participants developed hypertension together with heart disease, stroke or both (7.3%). Compared with persistently high scorers, moderate scorers had 1.95 times the odds of this combination; low scorers had 4.04 times the odds, after adjustment for other factors. The groups mainly reflected starting scores and added little predictive value beyond one initial measurement. Declining scores were associated with higher risk. The authors concluded that repeated measurements added value mainly by detecting changes within a person.

Why it matters

For middle-aged and older adults, the findings address how best to identify the risk of developing multiple cardiovascular conditions together—and whether repeated heart health checks add useful information.

Caveats

Other health differences could have influenced both scores and later disease; participants were disease-free adults aged 45 or older who completed all three examinations. The preprint has not been peer-reviewed.