Association of life's essential 8 and asthma: mediating effect of inflammation and oxidative stress

Background: The association of cardiovascular health (CVH) with asthma risk in U.S. adults remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the association of Life's Essential 8 (LE8), a measurement of CVH, with asthma and investigate the potential mediating effect of inflammation and oxidative stress. Methods: The data was obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 2005-2018. LE8 score (range 0 similar to 100) was measured and categorized as low (<50), moderate (50 similar to <80), and high (>= 80) CVH. Survey-weighted logistic regression and restricted cubic spline model were employed to explore the association between LE8 score and asthma. Mediation analyses were conducted to identify the mediating effects of inflammation and oxidative stress biomarkers. Results: This study included 10,932 participants aged >= 20 years, among whom 890 (8.14%) reported prevalent asthma. After adjusting for all covariates, the odd ratios (OR) for asthma were 0.67 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.48, 0.94) in the moderate CVH group and 0.52 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.79) in the high CVH group compared with the low CVH group, respectively. The OR for asthma was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.78, 0.93) for every 10 score increase in LE8 score, and linear dose-response relationship was observed (p = 0.0642). Mediation analyses showed that inflammation and oxidative stress mediated 15.97% and 11.50% of the association between LE8 score and asthma, respectively (all p < 0.05). Conclusions: LE8 score was negatively associated with asthma, and inflammation and oxidative stress partially mediated this association. It is recommended that maintaining optimal CVH may prevent asthma.