Association between Life's simple 7 and rheumatoid arthritis in adult Americans: data from the National Health and nutrition examination survey

Front Public Health. 2023 Nov 29:11:1251002. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1251002. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the relationship between Life's Simple 7 (LS7) and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adult Americans.

Methods: A total of 17,532 participants were included in this study. The association between LS7 and the risk of RA was assessed using a weighted logistic regression model, with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) calculated. Moreover, the nonlinear relationship was further characterized through smooth curve fitting (SCF) and weighted generalized additive model (GAM) analysis.

Results: After adjusting for all covariates, the weighted logistic regression model demonstrated that the LS7 was negatively correlated with the risk of RA. Compared to quintile 1 of LS7, the OR between the risk of RA and quartile 4 of LS7 (LS7.Q4) was 0.261 (95% CI, 0.203, 0.337) in males under 50 years old, while in females of the same age group, the OR was 0.183 (95% CI, 0.142, 0.234). For females aged between 50 and 70 years old, the OR between the risk of RA and LS7.Q4 was 0.313 (95% CI, 0.264, 0.371). In females aged 70 years or older, the OR between the risk of RA and LS7.Q4 was 0.632 (95% CI, 0.486, 0.822).

Conclusion: This finding suggested the healthy lifestyle behaviors represented by LS7 have a negative association with RA. However, further prospective studies are needed to verify the causal relationship in the results.

Keywords: Life’s simple 7; cardiovascular disease; healthy lifestyle behaviors; rheumatoid arthritis; the American Heart Association (AHA).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid* / epidemiology
  • Cardiovascular Diseases* / diagnosis
  • Female
  • Healthy Lifestyle
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nutrition Surveys
  • Smoking
  • United States / epidemiology

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82202705), and the Project of the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (grant no. 2023NSFSC1738), and Clinical Research Incubation project of West China Hospital of Sichuan University (2019HXFH041), and the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion (GZ1219).