Table 4.

Zinc intake in relation to recurrence-free survival (RFS), breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) and overall survival (OS).

				Dietary Intake of Zinc a
			Zinc Quartile	Women (n)	Events (n)	Total Person Years	Mortality/1000	HR (95% CI)	HR (95% CI) b
All		RFS	1	266	67	2983	22.46	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	796	201	9648	20.83	0.91 (0.69–1.20)	0.96 (0.72–1.27)
		BCSS	1	266	59	3040	19.41	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	796	146	9791	14.91	0.77 (0.57–1.04)	0.81 (0.58–1.13)
		OS	1	266	114	3040	37.50	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	796	319	9791	32.58	0.85 (0.69–1.05)	0.92 (0.74–1.16)
Phosphorus intake c	Low	RFS	1	127	30	1415	21.20	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	404	107	4721	22.66	0.98 (0.69–1.38)	1.02 (0.72–1.46)
		BCSS	1	127	28	1441	19.43	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	404	71	4831	14.70	0.88 (0.59–1.32)	1.04 (0.67–1.62)
		OS	1	127	58	1441	40.25	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	404	156	4831	32.29	0.92 (0.70–1.20)	1.02 (0.76–1.37)
	High	RFS	1	139	40	1616	24.75	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	392	91	4880	18.44	0.89 (0.48–1.65)	0.87 (0.46–1.66)
				Pi d high versus low phosphorus				0.87	0.81
		BCSS	1	139	31	1655	18.73	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	392	75	4994	15.02	0.48 (0.28–0.82)	0.41 (0.23–0.73)
				Pi high versus low phosphorus				0.07	0.01
		OS	1	139	68	1655	41.09	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	392	151	4994	30.24	0.69 (0.45–1.06)	0.64 (0.41–1.00)
				Pi high versus low phosphorus				0.28	0.10
Selenium intake c	Low	RFS	1	91	29	1010	28.71	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	440	113	5288	21.37	0.66 (0.44–1.00)	0.77 (0.49–1.19)
		BCSS	1	91	21	1023	20.53	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	440	86	5419	15.87	0.78 (0.48–1.25)	0.99 (0.58–1.68)
		OS	1	91	41	1023	40.08	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	440	160	5419	29.53	0.72 (0.51–1.02)	0.91 (0.63–1.33)
	High	RFS	1	175	41	2020	20.30	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	356	85	4313	19.71	0.93 (0.64–1.36)	1.09 (0.73–1.62)
				Pi high versus low selenium				0.25	0.22
		BCSS	1	175	38	2073	18.33	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	356	60	4405	13.62	0.75 (0.50–1.13)	0.99 (0.64–1.55)
				Pi high versus low selenium				0.87	0.80
		OS	1	175	85	2073	41.00	1.00	1.00
			2 + 3 + 4	356	147	4405	33.37	0.82 (0.62–1.07)	1.07 (0.80–1.43)
				Pi high versus low selenium				0.59	0.40

^a Quartiles of dietary intake of zinc as in Table 2. ^b Adjusted for age at baseline, age at diagnosis, baseline year, tumor size, lymph node status, distant metastasis status and intrinsic subtype. ^c The cut-off is set at the median. Residuals are presented as the median and interquartile range of total dietary intake of phosphorus and selenium, with low defined as 1199 (388) ng/day and 28.06 (10.36) µg/day, respectively, and high defined as 1576 (467) ng/day and 50.10 (35.39) µg/day, respectively. ^d p-value for interaction.