Table 3.

Hazard ratios (95% CI) of death from total cancer and cancer types by quartiles of serum B2M; ARIC, 1990–2011.

Cause of death	No. of deaths	Quartiles of B2M (mg/L)
		≤1.66	1.67–1.88	1.89–2.15	≥2.16	P-trend
Total cancer	1160	237	261	322	344
Person-years	219,393	57,374	57,868	54,563	49,588
Mortality ratea	5.29	4.13	4.51	5.90	6.94
Model 2b		1 (reference)	0.92 (0.76–1.12)	1.09 (0.89–1.34)	1.30 (1.02–1.64)	0.01
Colorectal cancer	85	13	27	24	21
Person-years	219,393	57,374	57,868	54,563	49,588
Mortality rate	0.39	0.23	0.47	0.44	0.42
Model 2		1 (reference)	1.60 (0.77–3.32)	1.50 (0.68–3.33)	1.73 (0.68–4.44)	0.34
Lung cancer	352	70	84	84	114
Person-years	219,393	57,374	57,868	54,563	49,588
Mortality rate	1.60	1.22	1.45	1.54	2.30
Model 2		1 (reference)	1.05 (0.73–1.50)	1.05 (0.72–1.55)	1.69 (1.10–2.59)	0.02
Breast cancer (women only)	77	19	18	23	17
Person-years	124,783	34,480	31,434	29,888	28,982
Mortality rate	0.62	0.55	0.57	0.77	0.59
Model 2		1 (reference)	1.12 (0.49–2.53)	1.23 (0.51–2.95)	0.80 (0.26–2.47)	0.83
Prostate cancer	58	14	15	20	9
Person-years	94,609	22,894	26,434	24,676	20,605
Mortality rate	0.61	0.61	0.57	0.81	0.44
Model 2		1 (reference)	0.78 (0.36–1.68)	0.93 (0.42–1.68)	0.42 (0.14–2.07)	0.25
Hematological cancers	138	21	29	34	54
Person-years	219,393	57,374	57,868	54,563	49,588
Mortality rate	0.63	0.37	0.50	0.82	1.09
Model 2		1 (reference)	1.21 (0.64–2.28)	1.48 (0.78–2.82)	2.44 (1.20–4.95)	0.001

^aPer 1,000 person-years

^bMultivariable model (Model 2, Table 2) – adjusted for age, sex, race, study center, education, BMI, smoking status and pack-years of smoking, use of aspirin, hormone replacement therapy (in women) and eGFR.