Investigate the association of Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) scores with brain volumes measured by MRI in Hispanic/Latino adults.

2482 participants from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) underwent 3T brain MR imaging.  We determined total brain, total and regional grey matter (frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital), total white matter, total CSF, lateral ventricle (LV), and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volumes. Volumes were residualized for total cranial volume. WMH and LV volumes were Ln-transformed. LS7 scores were calculated at baseline visit. Participants were grouped by LS7 tertiles (Q1, lowest, range 0-6, to Q3, highest, range 9-14). MRI outcomes across LS7 tertiles were investigated using linear regression analysis and adjusted for baseline characteristics. In a secondary analysis, we explored the interaction between LS7 and age on MRI outcomes. Results were expressed as regression coefficients and the corresponding 95% CI.

The participant's mean age was 62.3 (95% CI, 61.9 to 62.6) years and the mean±SD LS7 score was 7.4±2.0. In the fully adjusted model, individuals in Q3 had larger total brain (β=0.13, 0.01 to 0.26), total white matter (β=0.13, 0.03 to 0.23), total grey (β=0.19, 0.09 to 0.30) and frontal grey (β=0.17, 0.06 to 0.28) volumes, and smaller total CSF (β=-0.19, -0.29 to -0.10), LV (β=-0.18, -0.29 to -0.06) and WMH (β=-0.24, -0.35 to -0.13) volumes than individuals in Q1. With one unit increase in age, adults in LS7-Q3 had higher white matter (β=0.03, 0.02-0.04) and occipital gray volumes (β=0.02, 0.01-0.03), and smaller total CSF (β=-0.02, -0.03 to -0.01), LV (β=-0.02, -0.03 to -0.01), and WMH (β=-0.01, -0.02 to -0.002) volumes compared with adults from LS7-Q1.