Background: Whether lifestyle factors are similarly associated with risk of heart failure (HF) for individuals with different metabolic or genetic risk status remains unclear.
Methods: We included 464 483 participants from UK Biobank who were free of major cardiovascular disease or HF during baseline recruitment. Healthy lifestyle factors included avoidance of smoking, no obesity, regular physical activity, and healthy diet. Lifestyle was categorized as favorable (3 or 4 healthy lifestyle factors), intermediate (2 healthy lifestyle factors), and unfavorable (0 or 1 healthy lifestyle factor) lifestyles. Metabolic status was defined by the presence of hypertension, high total cholesterol, or diabetes at baseline. A weighted genetic risk score was created based on 12 single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with HF.
Results: Compared with favorable lifestyle, the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of HF were 1.79 (95% CI, 1.68-1.90) and 2.90 (95% CI, 2.70-3.11) for intermediate lifestyle and unfavorable lifestyle, respectively (Ptrend <0.0001). This association was largely consistent regardless of the presence of any single metabolic risk factor or the number of metabolic risk factors (Pinteraction ≥0.21). The association was also similar across different genetic risk categories (Pinteraction=0.92). In a joint analysis, the hazard ratio of HF was 4.05 (95% CI, 3.43-4.77) comparing participants who had both higher genetic risk and an unfavorable lifestyle with those having lower genetic risk and a favorable lifestyle.
Conclusions: Combined lifestyle was associated with incident HF regardless of metabolic or genetic risk status, supporting the recommendation of healthy lifestyles for HF prevention across the entire population.
Keywords: cardiovascular diseases; healthy lifestyle; heart failure; prospective studies.