Table 4.

Risk of death associated with serum chloride and sodium levels across tertiles of serum bicarbonate

Serum bicarbonate tertile	Serum chloride		Serum sodium
	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value
<26 mEq/L	1.06 (0.93–1.21)	0.386	1.07 (0.95–1.21)	0.271
26–28 mEq/L	1.21 (1.06–1.38)	0.006*	1.10 (0.98–1.24)	0.119
≥29 mEq/L	1.52 (1.37–1.70)	<0.001*	1.21 (1.08–1.35)	0.001*

CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio.

The HR is expressed per standard deviation decrease.

P < 0.0001 for chloride by tertiles of bicarbonate interaction and P = 0.14 for sodium by tertiles of bicarbonate interaction.

^*Significant P-value.