Associations between Life's Essential 8 and gallstones among US adults: A cross-sectional study from NHANES 2017-2018.

Background: Cardiovascular illness and gallstones are closely related. Our goal was to determine whether gallstones and the updated LE8 score, which measures cardiovascular health among US adults, are related.

Methods: 3,570 adults participated in the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which provided the data for our study. Based on the criterion provided by the American Association for Cardiovascular Health (AHA), LE8 score (range 0-100) was calculated and classified as low (0-49), moderate (50-79), and high (80-100) cardiovascular health. Gallstones were derived from the questionnaire. Multivariate logistic modeling explored the independent relationship between LE8 score and gallstones.

Results: There was a negative correlation between LE8 score and gallstones. Specifically, the odds of gallstones dropped by 15% for each 10-unit increase in LE8 score (OR = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77-0.94). Smooth curve fitting detected a saturation effect between LE8 score and gallstones, with a minimum threshold of 66.25 points associated with both. There was a noticeably stronger inverse relationship between gallstones and LE8 score in those under 60 years of age and not taking antihypertensive or lipid-lowering drugs.

Conclusions: Lower LE8 scores may be a potential risk factor for the development of gallstones and could also be a target for risk assessment and intervention.