Skip to main content

Table 3 Risk of overall and cause-specific mortality associated with daily potassium intake in the NIH-AARP studya

From: Sex-specific associations between sodium and potassium intake and overall and cause-specific mortality: a large prospective U.S. cohort study, systematic review, and updated meta-analysis of cohort studies

Mortality cause

Potassium intake

P value (Non-linear) b

P for interactionb

Quintile 1 (n = 83,220)

Quintile 2 (n = 83,221)

Quintile 3 (n = 83,221)

Quintile 4 (n = 83,221)

Quintile 5 (n = 83,221)

P for trend (linear) b

HR (95% CI)

HR (95% CI)

HR (95% CI)

HR (95% CI)

HR (95% CI)

Overall mortality

 Men

1.00

0.93 (0.90, 0.95)

0.92 (0.89, 0.94)

0.94 (0.91, 0.96)

0.96 (0.92, 0.99)

0.01*

 < 0.0001***

0.0006***

 Women

1.00

0.89 (0.86, 0.93)

0.86 (0.82, 0.89)

0.86 (0.82, 0.89)

0.82 (0.79, 0.86)

 < 0.0001***

 < 0.0001***

CVD

 Men

1.00

0.94 (0.89, 0.98)

0.95 (0.90, 1.01)

0.97 (0.91, 1.03)

1.02 (0.95, 1.09)

0.53

 < 0.0001***

0.0006***

 Women

1.00

0.87 (0.80, 0.94)

0.82 (0.75, 0.89)

0.82 (0.76, 0.89)

0.79 (0.72, 0.87)

 < 0.0001***

 < 0.0001***

Heart disease

 Men

1.00

0.94 (0.89, 0.99)

0.95 (0.90, 1.01)

0.97 (0.91, 1.04)

1.03 (0.96, 1.10)

0.41

 < 0.0001***

0.0028**

 Women

1.00

0.87 (0.79, 0.95)

0.82 (0.75, 0.90)

0.81 (0.74, 0.90)

0.80 (0.73, 0.89)

0.0001***

0.0006***

Stroke

 Men

1.00

0.92 (0.81, 1.04)

0.95 (0.83, 1.09)

0.93 (0.80, 1.08)

0.92 (0.78, 1.09)

0.43

0.002**

0.30

 Women

1.00

0.84 (0.70, 1.00)

0.80 (0.67, 0.96)

0.85 (0.71, 1.02)

0.79 (0.65, 0.96)

0.074

0.09

Cancer

 Men

1.00

0.96 (0.92, 1.00)

0.93 (0.88, 0.97)

0.95 (0.90, 1.00)

0.96 (0.90, 1.02)

0.07

0.06

0.64

 Women

1.00

0.95 (0.88, 1.02)

0.94 (0.88, 1.01)

0.94 (0.88, 1.01)

0.93 (0.86, 1.01)

0.15

0.10

Respiratory disease

 Men

1.00

0.83 (0.75, 0.92)

0.83 (0.75, 0.93)

0.89 (0.79, 1.01)

0.82 (0.71, 0.94)

0.01

0.09

0.43

 Women

1.00

0.84 (0.74, 0.96)

0.70 (0.62, 0.81)

0.76 (0.66, 0.87)

0.64 (0.55, 0.75)

 < 0.0001***

0.07

Infectious disease

 Men

1.00

0.98 (0.86, 1.13)

0.94 (0.80, 1.09)

1.05 (0.89, 1.24)

1.01 (0.84, 1.22)

0.68

0.26

0.51

 Women

1.00

0.92 (0.75, 1.14)

0.92 (0.75, 1.14)

0.91 (0.73, 1.12)

0.77 (0.61, 0.97)

0.04*

0.35

Injury and accidents

 Men

1.00

0.94 (0.82, 1.08)

0.89 (0.77, 1.03)

0.88 (0.75, 1.03)

0.85 (0.71, 1.03)

0.06

0.005**

0.91

 Women

1.00

0.87 (0.67, 1.13)

0.89 (0.68, 1.16)

0.71 (0.54, 0.94)

0.77 (0.58, 1.03)

0.04*

0.27

Other causes

 Men

1.00

0.88 (0.83, 0.94)

0.87 (0.82, 0.93)

0.88 (0.82, 0.94)

0.92 (0.85, 0.99)

0.03*

 < 0.0001***

0.045*

 Women

1.00

0.86 (0.79, 0.95)

0.83 (0.75, 0.90)

0.81 (0.74, 0.89)

0.79 (0.72, 0.88)

 < 0.0001***

 < 0.0001***

  1. aMultivariable analyses were adjusted for age at baseline, BMI, alcohol consumption, smoking status (never, former, current or missing), physical activity, race or ethnic group, education, marital status, diabetes (yes vs. no), health status, vitamin supplement use, total energy intake and Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI-2015 components for sodium, seafood and plant protein, saturated fat, fatty acids and refined grains). P for trend (linear) was calculated based on statistical significance of the coefficient of the category variable (the ordinal value of the quintile). P value (Non-linear) was derived from Fig. 1b. P for interaction was calculated based on the likelihood test to evaluate the statistical significance of the cross-product term (quintiles of potassium and sex) entered into the Cox proportional hazard regression
  2. b*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.00093 (the Bonferroni corrected threshold)