Life's Essential 8 in relation to self-rated health and health-related quality of life in a large population-based sample: the SCAPIS project.

PURPOSE: To monitor cardiovascular health, in 2022, the American Heart Association (AHA) updated the construct "Life's Simple 7" (LS7) to "Life's Essential 8" (LE8). This study aims to analyze the associations and capacity of discrimination of LE8 and LS7 in relation to self-rated health (SRH) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: This study from the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS) included 28 731 Swedish participants, aged 50-64 years. Three different scores were derived from the SF-12 questionnaire: 1-item question SRH ("In general, would you say your health is …?"), mental-HRQoL and physical-HRQoL. Logistic regression, restricted cubic splines, and ROC analysis were used to study the associations between the AHA scores in relation to SRH and HRQoL. RESULTS: Compared to those with a LE8 score of 80, participants with a LE8 score of 40 were 14.8 times more likely to report poor SRH (OR: 14.8, 95% CI: 13.0-17.0), after adjustments. Moreover, they were more likely to report a poor mental-HRQoL (OR: 4.9, 95% CI: 4.2-5.6) and a poor physical-HRQoL (OR: 8.0, 95% CI: 7.0-9.3). Area under curves for discriminating poor SRH were 0.696 (95% CI: 0.687-0.704), 0.666 (95% CI: 0.657-0.674), and 0.643 (95% CI: 0.634-0.651) for LE8, LS7 (0-14), and LS7 (0-7), respectively, all p values < 0.001 in the DeLong's tests. CONCLUSION: LE8 and LS7 had strong and inverse associations with SRH, mental-HRQoL, and physical-HRQoL, though LE8 had a somewhat higher capacity of discrimination than LS7. The novel LE8, a construct initially conceived to monitor cardiovascular health, also conveys SRH and HRQoL.

Activation of the right fronto-temporal cortex during maternal facial recognition in young infants.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Within the first days of life infants can already recognize their mother. This ability is based on several sensory mechanisms and increases during the first year of life, having its most crucial phase between 6 and 9 months when cortical circuits develop. The underlying cortical structures that are involved in this process are still unknown. Herein we report how the prefrontal cortices of healthy 6- to 9-month-old infants react to the sight of their mother's faces compared to that of an unknown female face. METHODS: Concentrations of oxygenated haemoglobin [HbO2] and deoxygenated haemoglobin [HHb] were measured using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in both fronto-temporal and occipital areas on the right side during the exposure to maternal and unfamiliar faces. RESULTS: The infants exhibited a distinct and significantly higher activation-related haemodynamic response in the right fronto-temporal cortex following exposure to the image of their mother's face, [HbO2] (0.75 micromol/L, p < 0.001), as compared to that of an unknown face (0.25 micromol/L, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Event-related haemodynamic changes, suggesting cortical activation, in response to the sight of human faces were detected in 6- to 9-month old children. The right fronto-temporal cortex appears to be involved in face recognition processes at this age.