A new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association reveals that better heart health prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a substantially lower risk of severe COVID-19 infection, defined as hospitalization or death. The research, which analyzed data from nearly 30,000 adults without pre-existing cardiovascular disease, found that those with the highest scores on the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 metric were 46% less likely to experience severe COVID-19 compared to those with the lowest scores.
The study, led by Dr. Tim Plante of the University of Vermont, is among the first to use the Life's Essential 8 metric—which assesses diet, physical activity, smoking, sleep, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar—to examine the relationship between heart health and COVID-19 severity. "Our findings suggest that the tremendous impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. could have been reduced if the general population had had better heart health prior to the onset of the pandemic," Plante said.
Key findings include that for every 14-point increase in the Life's Essential 8 score, the risk of severe COVID-19 dropped by 20%. Specifically, higher scores for physical activity, healthy weight, optimal blood pressure, and better sleep patterns were individually tied to lower risk. Senior author Dr. Elizabeth Oelsner of Columbia University likened a viral infection to a "cardiac stress test," noting that "better heart health... likely prepares you better for real-life stress tests such as infectious diseases."
The analysis drew from the Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R), which includes 14 U.S. studies with extensive pre-pandemic health data on participants. The cohort averaged 66 years of age, 61% were women, and 35% were white, 34% Hispanic/Latino, and 22% Black. During the study period from March 2020 to February 2023, 681 severe COVID-19 cases were documented. The protective benefit of heart health was consistent across age, sex, race, ethnicity, and vaccination status.
Dr. Sadiya Khan, chair of the American Heart Association's Epidemiology Statistic Committee, who was not involved in the research, emphasized that "healthy lifestyle habits make a difference for preventing heart disease... and also for more direct health benefits such as preventing adverse outcomes from respiratory infections." She also highlighted the importance of vaccination, especially for older adults or those with low heart health.
The study's limitations include its observational nature, which cannot establish cause and effect, and that heart health was only measured before or at the start of the pandemic. Nonetheless, the findings underscore the broad health benefits of maintaining good cardiovascular health. For leaders in business and technology, this research reinforces the value of workplace wellness programs that promote heart health, potentially reducing healthcare costs and improving employee resilience against infectious diseases.
