Skip to main content
. 2025 Sep 26;25:666. doi: 10.1186/s12876-025-04230-1

Table 5.

Association between water hardness and incident UC and CD in the cohort study

CD UC
Cases Model 1 HR (95% CI) P Model 2 HR (95% CI) P Model 3 HR (95% CI) P Cases Model 1 HR (95% CI) P Model 2 HR (95% CI) P Model 3 HR (95% CI) P
Water hardness (USGS, mg/l) 0–60 415 ref ref ref 776 ref ref ref
60–120 206 0.89 (0.75–1.05) 0.169 0.91 (0.77–1.07) 0.252 0.90 (0.76–1.07) 0.241 455 1.05 (0.93–1.18) 0.430 1.06 (0.94–1.19) 0.356 1.07 (0.95–1.20) 0.260
120–180 37 0.53 (0.38–0.75)  < 0.001 0.56 (0.40–0.78) < 0.001 0.55 (0.39–0.77)  < 0.001 146 1.13 (0.95–1.35) 0.172 1.15 (0.97–1.38) 0.113 1.16 (0.97–1.39) 0.094
> 180 375 0.84 (0.73–0.96) 0.014 0.85 (0.74–0.98) 0.024 0.84 (0.73–0.97) 0.016 788 0.95 (0.86–1.04) 0.275 0.95 (0.85–1.04) 0.270 0.96 (0.87–1.07) 0.469
P for trend 0.007 0.012 0.007 0.258 0.262 0.452
Water hardness (WHO, mg/l) < 200 664 ref ref ref 1388 ref ref ref
≥ 200 369 0.91 (0.8–1.03) 0.152 0.91 (0.8–1.04) 0.167 0.90 (0.79–1.03) 0.126 777 0.92 (0.84–1.01) 0.070 0.92 (0.84–1.00) 0.054 0.93 (0.85–1.02) 0.106
CaCO3 concentration (per SD) 0.93 (0.87–0.99) 0.020 0.93 (0.87–0.99) 0.027 0.93 (0.87–0.99) 0.017 0.97 (0.93–1.01) 0.130 0.97 (0.93–1.01) 0.118 0.97 (0.93–1.02) 0.223
Ca concentration (per SD) 0.96 (0.9–1.02) 0.174 0.95 (0.89–1.02) 0.140 0.95 (0.89–1.01) 0.104 1.03 (0.98–1.07) 0.207 1.02 (0.98–1.07) 0.310 1.03 (0.98–1.07) 0.233
Mg concentration (per SD) 0.93 (0.87–1) 0.056 0.95 (0.88–1.01) 0.119 0.94 (0.88–1.01) 0.110 0.98 (0.94–1.03) 0.473 0.99 (0.95–1.04) 0.693 1.00 (0.95–1.04) 0.848

Abbreviations: USGS United States Geological Survey, WHO World Health Organization, HR hazards ratio, P p-values

Model 1: adjusted for age and sex

Model 2: adjusted for age, sex, CCI scores, BMI, IPAQ physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status, ethnicity, TDI and diet quality scores

Model 3: adjusted for age, sex, CCI scores, BMI, IPAQ physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status, ethnicity, TDI, diet quality scores, the first five principal components of ancestry genetics and PRS scores

Bold font for USGS and WHO water hardness groups indicates p < 0.025, while bold font for other variables indicates p < 0.05