Abstract P503: Association Between Life’s Simple 7 and the Risk of Dementia Among Women

Introduction: Given the higher burden of dementia, it is particularly important to identify risk factors for dementia among women. A growing body of research underscores the need to examine midlife risk factors for dementia, as dementia pathology often begins decades before diagnosis. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that higher scores on the AHA Life’s Simple 7 in midlife, indicating better cardiovascular health in midlife, would be associated with a decreased risk of dementia among women followed from middle age into older age. Methods: The study population included women enrolled in the Women’s Health Study who had available risk factor information needed to calculate the AHA Life’s Simple 7 at baseline (1992-1994) and approximately ten years later (2004) and were fully covered by fee-for-service Medicare for all eligible person-months. Women received one point for each component of the Life’s Simple 7 (smoking status, diet, physical activity, body mass index, diabetes, blood cholesterol, and blood pressure) for which they had ideal cardiovascular health. We used fee-for-service Medicare data (available from 2011 through 2018) and validated lists of ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes to identify dementia diagnoses. We used logistic regression to examine the association between the score, modeled as a continuous variable, and dementia diagnosis adjusted for age and socioeconomic status at baseline. Results: A total of 13,720 women were eligible for these analyses and 1771 (12.9%) dementia cases were observed. The mean age (standard deviation (SD)) was 54.2 (6.6) years at baseline. The average Life’s Simple 7 score at baseline was 4.3 (SD=1.3) and after ten years of follow-up was 4.2 (SD=1.3). Higher Life’s Simple 7 score as measured at baseline (odds ratio per one unit change in score=0.94, 95% CI: 0.90-0.98) was associated with a decreased risk of dementia. This effect was similar for the Life’s Simple 7 score as measured after ten years of follow-up (OR=0.95, 95% CI: 0.91-1.00). Conclusions: In this large cohort of women, better cardiovascular health in midlife was associated with a decreased risk of dementia in late life.