Ideal cardiovascular health and mortality: pooled results of three prospective cohorts in Chinese adults

BACKGROUND: Evidence on the relations of the American Heart Association's ideal cardiovascular health (ICH) with mortality in Asians is sparse, and the interaction between behavioral and medical metrics remained unclear. We aimed to fill the gaps. METHODS: A total of 198,164 participants without cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) were included from the China Kadoorie Biobank study (2004–2018), Dongfeng-Tongji cohort (2008–2018), and Kailuan study (2006–2019). Four behaviors (i.e., smoking, physical activity, diet, body mass index) and three medical factors (i.e., blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood lipid) were classified into poor, intermediate, and ideal levels (0, 1, and 2 points), which constituted 8-point behavioral, 6-point medical, and 14-point ICH scores. Results of Cox regression from three cohorts were pooled using random-effects models of meta-analysis. RESULTS: During about 2 million person-years, 20,176 deaths were recorded. After controlling for demographic characteristics and alcohol drinking, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) comparing ICH scores of 10–14 vs. 0–6 were 0.52 (0.41–0.67), 0.44 (0.37–0.53), 0.54 (0.45–0.66), and 0.86 (0.64–1.14) for all-cause, CVD, respiratory, and cancer mortality. A higher behavioral or medical score was independently associated with lower all-cause and CVD mortality among the total population and populations with different levels of behavioral or medical health equally, and no interaction was observed. CONCLUSIONS: ICH was associated with lower all-cause, CVD, and respiratory mortality among Chinese adults. Both behavioral and medical health should be improved to prevent premature deaths.