Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction: Maintaining a heart-healthy lifestyle is crucial for good cardiovascular health. However, the moderating effects of age and gender on the relationship of diet quality, smoking status, and exercise to cardiovascular health are unknown. The purpose of this proposed study was to investigate the moderating effects of age and gender on the relationship of diet quality, smoking status, and exercise to cardiovascular health in community-dwelling adults in Taiwan.

Methods: Cardiovascular health was defined using American Heart Association Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) scores, including cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood sugar, body mass index, diet, smoking status, and physical activity levels, that were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and blood tests. Healthy lifestyle (diet quality, not smoking, and exercise) was also defined using a self-administered questionnaire. PROCESS macro model 3 was used to analyze the moderation effects of age between genders, the continuous independent variable (X) healthy lifestyle, the continuous dependent variable (Y) LS7, the categorical moderator (W) gender, and the continuous moderator (Z) age.
Results: We recruited 484 participants (35.33±23.39 yrs., 86% female). The final model was significant (R2=51.19%, F=125.49, p=.000). Healthy lifestyle is a predictor of cardiovascular health (β=1.14, p=.000). However, the regression coefficient for XMW is not statistically significant, b7=0.0018, F (476) =0.1131, p=.7368, meaning that there is no three-way interaction between healthy lifestyle, age, and gender.
Conclusion: The study findings elucidate that while gender and age can impact the prevalence rates of cardiovascular diseases, the effect of adopting a healthy lifestyle on cardiovascular health remains consistent across different age groups and genders. Consequently, regardless of age or gender, fostering a cardioprotective lifestyle is paramount.