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. 2022 Jun 13;20:218. doi: 10.1186/s12916-022-02425-x

Table 2.

Plasma NfLv1 and δNfL and their relation to all-cause mortality by sex: Cox PH hazards models

Overall (N = 694), β ± SEa Women (N = 401), β ± SE Men (N = 293), β ± SE Psexb
NfLv1
Logetransformed,z-score
  Model 1d + 0.275 ± 0.157, p = 0.080 + 0.696 ± 0.247, p = 0.005 + 0.060 ± 0.236, p = 0.80 0.018
HR = 1.317 HR = 2.006 HR = 1.062
  Model 2d + 0.241 ± 0.170, p = 0.16 + 0.557 ± 0.273, p = 0.041 + 0.072 ± 0.257, p = 0.78 0.07
HR = 1.273 HR = 1.745 HR = 1.075
Above vs. below mediane
  Model 1d + 0.177 ± 0.352, p = 0.61 + 0.477 ± 0.527, p = 0.36 + 0.104 ± 0.486, p = 0.83 0.34
HR = 1.194 HR = 1.611 HR = 1.110
  Model 2d 0.095 ± 0.359, p = 0.79 + 0.274 ± 0.566, p = 0.63 − 0.041 ± 0.509, p = 0.94 0.43
HR = 1.010 HR = 1.315 HR = 0.956
δNfLc
Logetransformed,z-score
  Model 1d + 0.223 ± 0.141, p = 0.11 + 0.436 ± 0.223, p = 0.051 + 0.060 ± 0.197, p = 0.76 0.11
HR = 1.250 HR = 1.547 HR = 1.062
  Model 2d + 0.201 ± 0.144, p = 0.16 + 0.500 ± 0.235, p = 0.034 + 0.047 ± 0.200, p = 0.81 0.092
HR = 1.223 HR = 1.649 HR = 1.048
Above vs. below mediane
  Model 1d + 0.448 ± 0.346, p = 0.20 + 1.363 ± 0.649, p = 0.036 − 0.194 ± 0.451, p = 0.67 0.015
HR = 1.565 HR = 3.908 HR = 1.214
  Model 2d + 0.440 ± 0.351, p = 0.21 + 1.595 ± 0.695, p = 0.022 − 0.266 ± 0.464, p = 0.57 0.011
HR = 1.553 HR = 4.928 HR = 1.305

Abbreviations: Bayes empirical Bayes estimator, CES-D Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression, δ annualized rate of change, HANDLS Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Life Span, HEI Healthy Eating Index, HR hazard ratio, NfL plasma neurofilament light, v1 visit 1, v2 visit 2, v3 visit 3

aValues are Loge(HR) ± SE, p from Cox PH hazards models associated with each NfL exposure of interest. Hazard ratio (HR) point estimates are also presented. 95% CI for HR can be calculated as follows: lower confidence limit (LCL): exp[LogeHR − 1.96×SE(LogeHR)]; upper confidence limit (UCL): exp[LogeHR + 1.96×SE(LogeHR)]

bP-value for the 2-way interaction term between plasma NfL exposure and sex in a separate unstratified model

cAnnual rate of change in NfL between v1 and v3 using the empirical Bayes estimator predicted from a mixed-effects linear regression model with NfL as the outcome and TIME as the only predictor, validated against the observed annualized change between v1 and v3 (Pearson’s r > 0.80)

dModel 1 adjusted for age at v1, sex, race, poverty status, and the inverse mills ratio; model 2 additionally adjusted for education, HEI-2010 total score, mean energy intake (kcal/day), current tobacco use, current illicit drug use, and the CES-D total score

eSD values of continuous exposures can be derived from Table 1. Binary NfLv1 and δNfL (above vs. below or = median) based on distributions in the final selected sample with a cutoff of 1.966279 for NfLv1 and 0.0466214 for δNfL