AHA's 'Life's Simple 7' and diabetes care program reduce heart failure risk

A new study has revealed that American Heart Association's (AHA) Life's Simple 7 and Diabetes Shared Care Program (DSCP) can reduce risk of heart failure.

Lead investigator Aaron R. Folsom of the University of Minnesota said that their study demonstrated that greater adherence to the AHA's Life's Simple 7 in middle age was associated with a lower lifetime occurrence of heart failure and greater preservation of cardiac structure and function.

In the study, investigators studied a population-based study of 13,462 adults who were aged 45-64 years in 1987-1989. From 1987-1989 risk factor measurements, they created a Life's Simple 7 score.

They found that approximately 25 percent of the participants developed heart failure through age 85 years, but the risk was just 14.4 percent for those with an optimal middle-age Life's Simple 7 score of 10-14 compared with 26.8 percent for participants with a score of 5-9, and 48.6 percent for a score of 0-4.

In another study conducted in Taiwan, researchers evaluated the impact of participation in the Diabetes Shared Care Program (DSCP) on the risk of cardiovascular disease events.

Lead investigator Chien-Ning Huang of the Chung Medical University Hospital said that they found that participation in the DSCP was associated with lower risks of cardiovascular events, stroke, and all-cause mortality.

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The study is published in the Journal American Journal of Medicine.