Table 2.
Number of deaths (cause-specific and all-cause), person-years and age-adjusted mortality rates among initially healthy men during 45 years of follow-up, by fasting level of potassium (mmol/L) at baseline
| Men | Pyrs of follow-up | Cancer death | Cardiovascular death | Other causes of death a | All-causeb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deaths | Rate per 1000 pyrsc | Deaths | Rate per 1000 pyrsc | Deaths | Rate per 1000 pyrsc | Deaths | Rate per 1000 pyrsc | |||
| No. | No. | No. | 95% CI | No. | 95% CI | No. | 95% CI | No. | 95% CI | |
| All | 1989 | 58,329 | 494 | 8.5 (7.7–9.3) | 688 | 11.8 (10.9–12.7) | 536 | 9.2 (8.4–10.0) | 1736 | 29.8 (28.4–31.2) |
| Hypokalemia (≤3.5) | 19 | 593 | 2 | 3.3 (.5–23.5) | 10 | 19.8 (5.6–82.5) | 4 | 7.1 (1.8–28.5) | 16 | 30.3 (11.5–96.6) |
| Normo-low (3.6–4.0) | 330 | 10,751 | 61 | 6.2 (3.8–10.3) | 106 | 11.2 (7.7–16.2) | 87 | 8.7 (5.7–13.2) | 255 | 26.1 (20.5–33.4) |
| Normo-intermediate (4.1–4.5) | 1155 | 33,988 | 299 | 8.8 (7.0–11.0) | 405 | 11.9 (9.8–14.5) | 303 | 8.9 (7.1–11.2) | 1020 | 30.0 (26.6–34.0) |
| Normo-high (4.6–5.0) | 435 | 11,852 | 144 | 9.4 (6.5–13.5) | 152 | 11.9 (8.6–16.5) | 128 | 10.4 (7.3–14.8) | 397 | 31.9 (26.2–38.9) |
| Hyperkalemia (> 5) | 50 | 1146 | 18 | 11.8 (5.3–26.9) | 15 | 13.7 (4.7–42.1) | 14 | 9.9 (4.1–24.4) | 48 | 36.0 (20.1–70.8) |
CI confidence interval, pyrs person-years
aDeath related to other causes than cancer and cardiovascular disease (see supplementary Table 1 for further details)
bThe all-cause analysis includes 18 men without a specified cause of death
cAge-adjusted according to the age-distribution (5-year groups) in the total cohort at baseline