Table 3. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for temporal associations between serum LDH and risk of death following cancer diagnosis.

		LDHa
Lag time,b months	No. of deaths/all patients	Z-score	⩽ULN	>ULN
All-cause death
0–6	1952/2426	1.14 (1.11–1.17)	1.0 (Ref)	2.01 (1.79–2.25)
6–12	1124/1523	1.10 (1.03–1.18)	1.0 (Ref)	1.48 (1.21–1.83)
12–18	1188/1620	1.04 (0.96–1.12)	1.0 (Ref)	1.01 (0.79–1.31)
18–24	1176/1589	1.10 (1.02–1.18)	1.0 (Ref)	1.23 (0.96–1.57)
24–30	1287/1750	1.04 (0.96–1.13)	1.0 (Ref)	1.16 (0.90–1.51)
30–36	1300/1818	1.10 (1.01–1.19)	1.0 (Ref)	1.46 (1.15–1.86)
Cancer-specific death
0–6	1498/2426	1.15 (1.12–1.18)	1.0 (Ref)	2.11 (1.86–2.40)
6–12	801/1523	1.11 (1.02–1.20)	1.0 (Ref)	1.54 (1.21–1.96)
12–18	839/1620	1.04 (0.95–1.15)	1.0 (Ref)	1.08 (0.80–1.47)
18–24	837/1589	1.07 (0.98–1.17)	1.0 (Ref)	1.07 (0.79–1.46)
24–30	913/1750	0.99 (0.90–1.10)	1.0 (Ref)	0.97 (0.68–1.38)
30–36	906/1818	1.04 (0.94–1.15)	1.0 (Ref)	1.10 (0.80–1.52)

Abbreviations: LDH=lactate dehydrogenase; Ref=reference; ULN=upper limit of normal.

All models were adjusted for age at diagnosis, sex, socioeconomic status, Charlson comorbidity index, period of diagnosis and stratified by cancer sites.

^aAverage of serum LDH measurements taken within each interval time.

^bInterval time between baseline measurement of serum LDH and cancer diagnosis.