Table 2.

Hazard of developing DR for known risk factors from multivariate Cox regression analysis

	HR	95% CI	p‐value
Age of onset T1DM (years)	1.024	1.013–1.035	<0.001
Mean HbA1c (mmol/mol)	1.023	1.014–1.033	<0.001
HbA1c variability (CV)	1.054	1.028–1.081	<0.001
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)	0.502	0.325–0.775	0.002
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)	1.210	1.020–1.436	0.029

HR = hazard ratio; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval; CV = coefficient of variation; HDL = high‐density lipoprotein.

The hazard ratio for continuous variables should be interpreted as hazard per point of increase in the variable per time unit. For example,: when the HbA1c level increases with 10 points, the instantaneous risk of DR development is 1.025¹⁰ = 1.280 or 28.0% higher.