Table 3

Associations of egg consumption with mortality from cardiovascular disease among 4 61 213 participants

Endpoints	Egg consumption					P for linear trend*	HR for 1 egg/week†
Endpoints	Never/rarely	1–3 days/month	1–3 days/week	4–6 days/week	7 days/week	P for linear trend*	HR for 1 egg/week†
PYs	382 204	838 613	1 970 423	442 564	551 465
CVD
Deaths	1316	2234	4296	935	1204
Deaths/PYs (1/1000)	3.4	2.7	2.2	2.1	2.2
Model 1	1.00	0.85 (0.80 to 0.91)	0.78 (0.73 to 0.83)	0.66 (0.60 to 0.72)	0.63 (0.58 to 0.69)	<0.001	0.87 (0.85 to 0.89)
Model 2	1.00	0.91 (0.85 to 0.98)	0.87 (0.82 to 0.93)	0.78 (0.71 to 0.85)	0.78 (0.71 to 0.84)	<0.001	0.93 (0.91 to 0.95)
Model 3	1.00	0.91 (0.85 to 0.98)	0.88 (0.82 to 0.94)	0.79 (0.73 to 0.87)	0.82 (0.75 to 0.89)	<0.001	0.94 (0.92 to 0.97)
IHD
Deaths	395	664	1462	338	515
Deaths/PYs (1/1000)	1.0	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.9
Model 1	1.00	0.86 (0.75 to 0.97)	0.84 (0.75 to 0.94)	0.72 (0.62 to 0.84)	0.71 (0.62 to 0.82)	<0.001	0.91 (0.88 to 0.95)
Model 2	1.00	0.90 (0.79 to 1.02)	0.93 (0.83 to 1.05)	0.84 (0.72 to 0.97)	0.85 (0.74 to 0.97)	0.019	0.96 (0.92 to 0.99)
Model 3	1.00	0.90 (0.79 to 1.02)	0.94 (0.83 to 1.05)	0.85 (0.73 to 0.99)	0.88 (0.77 to 1.02)	0.131	0.97 (0.93 to 1.01)
Haemorrhagic stroke
Deaths	540	842	1373	365	315
Deaths/PYs (1/1000)	1.4	1.0	0.7	0.8	0.6
Model 1	1.00	0.80 (0.72 to 0.89)	0.69 (0.62 to 0.76)	0.60 (0.52 to 0.69)	0.53 (0.46 to 0.62)	<0.001	0.83 (0.80 to 0.86)
Model 2	1.00	0.87 (0.78 to 0.97)	0.79 (0.71 to 0.88)	0.73 (0.63 to 0.84)	0.67 (0.58 to 0.78)	<0.001	0.89 (0.85 to 0.93)
Model 3	1.00	0.87 (0.78 to 0.97)	0.79 (0.71 to 0.88)	0.74 (0.65 to 0.86)	0.72 (0.62 to 0.84)	<0.001	0.91 (0.87 to 0.95)
Ischaemic stroke
Deaths	113	237	437	90	126
Deaths/PYs (1/1000)	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
Model 1	1.00	0.97 (0.78 to 1.22)	0.90 (0.72 to 1.11)	0.82 (0.62 to 1.09)	0.73 (0.56 to 0.95)	0.006	0.90 (0.84 to 0.97)
Model 2	1.00	1.05 (0.83 to 1.31)	1.02 (0.82 to 1.27)	1.00 (0.75 to 1.34)	0.92 (0.70 to 1.21)	0.343	0.97 (0.90 to 1.04)
Model 3	1.00	1.05 (0.83 to 1.31)	1.02 (0.82 to 1.27)	1.00 (0.74 to 1.33)	0.93 (0.71 to 1.22)	0.388	0.97 (0.90 to 1.04)

Stratified Cox proportional models were used with stratification on survey site and birth cohort (in 5-year intervals). Multivariate models were adjusted for: model 1: age at recruitment (continuous) and sex (men or women); model 2: additionally included education level (no formal school, primary school, middle school, high school, college, or university or higher), household income (<2500, 2500–4999, 5000–9999, 10 000–19 999, 20 000–34 999, or ≥35 000 yuan/year), marital status (married, widowed, divorced or separated, or never married), alcohol consumption (not weekly; ex-regular; not daily; daily consuming 1–15, 15–29, 30–59, or ≥60 g), tobacco smoking (never or occasional; former; current smoking with 1–14, 15–24, or ≥25 cigarettes/day), physical activity in MET-hours/day (continuous), BMI (continuous), waist to hip ratio (continuous), prevalent hypertension (presence or absence), use of aspirin (presence, absence, or unknown), family history of CVD (presence or absence); model 3: additionally included intake of multivitamin supplementation (presence or absence) and dietary pattern (new affluence, traditional northern, or traditional southern).
*Tests for linear trend were conducted by assigning 0, 0.5, 2.0, 5.0, 7.0 to the frequency levels from the lowest to the highest and treating the variable as a continuous variable in the Cox model.
†HR for each one egg increment per week were calculated by using the usual amount in the multivariate Cox models.
BMI, body mass index; CVD, cardiovascular disease; HR, hazard ratios; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; MET, metabolic equivalent task; PY, person-years.