Table 1.

Summary risk estimates for the associations between egg and cholesterol intake and risk of all-cause mortality in adults aged ≥18 years^a.

	#RRb	Pooled RR (95% CI)c	I2 (%)d	P-heterogeneitye	P-meta-regression
The highest vs. lowest comparison
Egg intake
Overall	22	1.03 (0.97–1.09)	85.3	<0.001
Subgroup analysis
Study location
US	7	1.13 (1.09–1.016)	43.9	0.09	0.05
Non-US	15	0.98 (0.90–1.06)	74.3	<0.001
Gender
Both	16	1.01 (0.94–1.08)	88.1	<0.001	0.42
Male	4	1.07 (0.89–1.29)	71.5	0.01
Female	2	1.43 (0.79–2.56)	75.2	0.04
Follow-up duration
≥15 years	11	1.06 (0.99–1.13)	84.4	<0.001	0.46
<15 years	11	1.00 (0.92–1.08)	66.9	0.001
Dietary assessment tools
FFQ or DHQ	18	1.06 (1.00–1.12)	83.2	<0.001	0.05
Food recall or record	4	0.89 (0.72–1.11)	79.9	0.002
Adjustment for energy
Yes	13	1.01 (0.95–1.08)	86.2	<0.001	0.49
No	9	1.07 (0.96–1.21)	81.3	<0.001
Adjustment for BMI
Yes	17	1.03 (0.96–1.10)	88	<0.001	0.80
No	5	1.05 (0.98–1.13)	30.6	0.21
Adjustment for lipid-lowering medication
Yes	4	1.01 (0.84–1.22)	84.1	<0.001	0.78
No	18	1.04 (0.98–1.10)	84.9	<0.001
Dietary cholesterol intake
Overall	9	1.07 (1.02–1.13)	47.8	0.05
Subgroup analysis
Study location
US	4	1.13 (1.10–1.16)	0	0.49	0.02
Non-US	5	1.00 (0.94–1.07)	0	0.74
Gender
Both	8	1.06 (0.99–1.13)	52.5	0.04	0.70
Male	-	–	–	–
Female	1	1.09 (1.03–1.16)	–	–
Follow-up duration
≥15 years	4	1.09 (1.03–1.16)	61.1	0.05	0.27
<15 years	5	1.03 (0.96–1.09)	0	0.96
Dietary assessment tools
FFQ or DHQ	7	1.09 (1.04–1.14)	39.9	0.12	0.24
Food recall or record	2	0.98 (0.82–1.17)	45.2	0.17
Adjustment for energy
Yes	6	1.09 (1.04–1.15)	43.6	0.11	0.18
No	3	1.01 (0.93–1.09)	0	0.95
Adjustment for BMI
Yes	5	1.06 (0.97–1.15)	69.8	0.01	0.96
No	4	1.08 (1.02–1.14)	0	0.89
Adjustment for lipid-lowering medication
Yes	1	1.09 (0.95–1.26)	–	–	0.81
No	8	1.07 (1.01–1.13)	54.1	0.03
Linear dose-response association
Egg intake (per 1 egg/d increase)
Overall	24	1.07 (1.02–1.12)	84.8	<0.001
Subgroup analysis
Study location
US	7	1.13 (1.10–1.17)	47.4	0.07	0.27
Non-US	17	1.04 (0.96–1.13)	82.5	<0.001
Gender
Both	18	1.05 (0.99–1.12)	87.1	<0.001	0.65
Male	4	1.08 (0.92–1.25)	68.9	0.02
Female	2	1.15 (1.12–1.19)	0	0.45
Follow-up duration
≥15 years	12	1.06 (1.01–1.12)	84.8	<0.001	0.33
<15 years	12	1.08 (0.98–1.19)	82.3	<0.001
Dietary assessment tools
FFQ or DHQ	20	1.09 (1.04–1.14)	83.3	<0.001	0.16
Food recall or record	4	0.95 (0.84–1.09)	64.2	0.03
Adjustment for energy
Yes	13	1.07 (1.01–1.13)	86.7	<0.001	0.84
No	11	1.07 (0.99–1.16)	77.4	<0.001
Adjustment for BMI
Yes	18	1.05 (1.00–1.11)	85.4	<0.001	0.32
No	6	1.14 (0.99–1.33)	85.8	<0.001
Adjustment for lipid-lowering medication
Yes	5	1.07 (0.90–1.27)	83.5	<0.001	0.90
No	19	1.07 (1.02–1.13)	85.8	<0.001
Dietary cholesterol intake (per 100 mg/d increase)
Overall	8	1.06 (1.03–1.08)	34.5	0.15
Subgroup analysis
Study location
US	4	1.06 (1.03–1.10)	68	0.02	0.38
Non-US	4	1.01 (0.93–1.11)	0	0.88
Gender
Both	6	1.05 (1.04–1.06)	0	0.86	0.29
Male	1	1.02 (0.93–1.12)	–	–
Female	1	1.15 (1.08–1.22)	–	–
Follow-up duration
≥15 years	5	1.06 (1.03–1.09)	57.5	0.05	0.06
<15 years	3	0.98 (0.79–1.20)	0	0.68
Dietary assessment tools
FFQ or DHQ	5	1.06 (1.04–1.09)	53.7	0.07	0.16
Food recall or record	3	1.00 (0.92–1.10)	0	0.63
Adjustment for energy
Yes	7	1.06 (1.03–1.08)	42.5	0.10	0.63
No	1	0.89 (0.46–1.73)	–	–
Adjustment for BMI
Yes	5	1.05 (1.04–1.06)	0	0.74	0.02
No	3	1.14 (1.08–1.21)	0	0.67
Adjustment for lipid-lowering medication
Yes	1	1.05 (1.03–1.08)	–	–	0.98
No	7	1.06 (1.01–1.12)	43.7	0.09

^aBMI, body mass index; CI, confidence interval; RR, relative risk; DHQ, dietary history questionnaire; FFQ, food frequency questionnaire; US, United States.

^bNumber of risk estimates.

^cObtained from the random-effects model.

^dInconsistency, the percentage of variation across studies due to heterogeneity.

^eObtained from the Q-test.