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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2017 Jan 11;26(6):945–952. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-16-0948

Table 2.

ORs (95% CIs) of colorectal cancer ranked by quartile of serum TMAO

OR (95% CI) by quartile of serum TMAO (µmol/L)

N 1 (≤2.5) 2 (>2.5–3.6) 3 (>3.6 to 5.4) 4 (>5.4) P trend
Colorectal cancer
No. cases/
No. controls
644/644 154/167 159/166 163/156 168/155
Age and batch adjusted 644/644 1.00 (Ref.) 1.04 (0.76–1.42) 1.14 (0.83–1.57) 1.20 (0.86–1.68) 0.26
Fully adjusteda 642/643 1.00 (Ref.) 1.04 (0.76–1.42) 1.15 (0.83–1.58) 1.20 (0.86–1.68) 0.25

Cancer of the Proximal Colon
No. cases/
No. controls
169/169 43/53 38/47 51/37 37/32
Age and batch adjusted 169/169 1.00 (Ref.) 0.99 (0.54–1.84) 1.83 (0.99–3.41) 1.60 (0.80–3.22) 0.12
Fully adjusteda 169/169 1.00 (Ref.) 1.00 (0.54–1.86) 1.84 (0.99–3.43) 1.60 (0.80–3.22) 0.12

Cancer of the Distal Colon
No. cases/
No. controls
153/153 30/35 50/36 34/45 39/37
Age and batch adjusted 153/153 1.00 (Ref.) 1.63 (0.82–3.24) 0.85 (0.41–1.78) 1.22 (0.58–2.56) 0.95
Fully adjusteda 152/153 1.00 (Ref.) 1.73 (0.86–3.46) 0.81 (0.38–1.70) 1.21 (0.57–2.56) 0.89

Rectal Cancer
No. cases/
No. controls
282/282 76/68 62/71 63/67 81/76
Age and batch adjusted 282/282 1.00 (Ref.) 0.77 (0.48–1.25) 0.83 (0.50–1.36) 0.97 (0.59–1.60) 0.87
Fully adjusted a 281/281 1.00 (Ref.) 0.76 (0.47–1.24) 0.83 (0.50–1.36) 0.94 (0.57–1.57) 0.92

Logistic regression models adjusted for batch (categorical, 27 batches) and age (continuous). Quartiles of serum TMAO were based on the distribution among controls. Medians for each quartile (based on controls) were used in trend test; medians for TMAO quartiles 1 through 4 were 2.0, 3.1, 4.4 and 7.7, respectively. 2 participants had cancer of the proximal colon and rectum and are counted in both disease-stratified analyses.

a

Model additionally adjusted for the number of years smoked regularly (continuous), number of cigarettes smoked per day (continuous), education (college graduate, some college or technical school, versus ≤ high school), body mass index (continuous, kg/m2), heavy physical activity in leisure (yes/no), heavy occupational physical activity (yes/no), physical activity frequency (≥3 times per week, versus <3), total energy intake (continuous, kcal/day)