Life's Essential 8 and Risk of Severe COVID‐19 Among Adults Without Clinical Cardiovascular Disease: The C4R Study

Journal of the American Heart Association 2026 Open access

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Authors: Timothy B. Plante, Yifei Sun, Pallavi Balte, Donald Lloyd-Jones, Hongyan Ning, Norrina B. Allen, MORGANA MONGRAW-CHAFFIN, Kelley Pettee Gabriel, Vanessa Xanthakis, Arnita F. Norwood, Sara Gonzalez, Daniela Sotres‐Alvarez
+19 more Gregory A. Talavera, Martha L. Daviglus, Sameera A. Talegawkar, Namratha Kandula, M Mitchell S Elkind, Tatjana Rundek, Jose Gutierrez, Emily B Levitan, Mary Cushman, Suzanne E. Judd, Henry E. Wang, Neil A. Zakai, Virginia J. Howard, Nathalie Pamir, Monika M. Safford, Debora Kamin Mukaz, Amanda M. Fretts, Stephen P. Juraschek, Elizabeth C. Oelsner
DOI: 10.1161/jaha.125.048256
Cited by: 1
References: 72

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 (ie, hospitalization or death). Whether better cardiovascular health (CVH) is associated with lower risk of severe COVID-19 among adults without cardiovascular disease is unknown. We aimed to test if the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8) metric and its components were associated with severe COVID-19 in the C4R (Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research) consortium. METHODS: Participants with cardiovascular disease were excluded. Two waves of questionnaires, events surveillance, and a serosurvey identified COVID-19 infections. Associations of incident severe COVID-19 with continuous LE8, categorical LE8 (low [

Fields of Study & Subjects

Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors Health Environment Cognitive Aging COVID-19 and Mental Health

Publication details

Journal / source
Journal of the American Heart Association
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Volume
15
Issue
11
Pages
e048256–e048256
Publication date
27 April 2026
Language
EN