Associations of egg consumption with risk of cardiovascular disease among 461 213 participants
| Endpoints | Egg consumption | P for linear trend* | HR for 1 egg/week† | ||||
| Never/rarely | 1–3 days/month | 1–3 days/week | 4–6 days/week | 7 days/week | |||
| CVD | |||||||
| Cases | 8125 | 17 086 | 38 147 | 8580 | 12 039 | ||
| Cases/PYs (1/1000) | 22.7 | 21.9 | 20.8 | 20.8 | 23.6 | ||
| Model 1 | 1.00 | 0.94 (0.92 to 0.97) | 0.88 (0.86 to 0.91) | 0.86 (0.83 to 0.89) | 0.84 (0.82 to 0.87) | <0.001 | 0.96 (0.95 to 0.96) |
| Model 2 | 1.00 | 0.97 (0.95 to 1.00) | 0.92 (0.90 to 0.94) | 0.90 (0.87 to 0.92) | 0.89 (0.86 to 0.92) | <0.001 | 0.97 (0.96 to 0.97) |
| Model 3 | 1.00 | 0.97 (0.95 to 1.00) | 0.92 (0.90 to 0.94) | 0.90 (0.87 to 0.93) | 0.89 (0.87 to 0.92) | <0.001 | 0.97 (0.96 to 0.98) |
| IHD | |||||||
| Cases | 2866 | 5529 | 13 541 | 3069 | 5164 | ||
| Cases/PYs (1/1000) | 7.7 | 6.7 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 9.7 | ||
| Model 1 | 1.00 | 0.92 (0.88 to 0.97) | 0.89 (0.86 to 0.93) | 0.84 (0.80 to 0.88) | 0.86 (0.82 to 0.90) | <0.001 | 0.96 (0.95 to 0.98) |
| Model 2 | 1.00 | 0.95 (0.91 to 0.99) | 0.92 (0.88 to 0.96) | 0.86 (0.82 to 0.91) | 0.89 (0.85 to 0.93) | <0.001 | 0.97 (0.96 to 0.98) |
| Model 3 | 1.00 | 0.95 (0.91 to 0.99) | 0.92 (0.88 to 0.96) | 0.86 (0.81 to 0.91) | 0.88 (0.84 to 0.93) | <0.001 | 0.97 (0.95 to 0.98) |
| MCE | |||||||
| Cases | 565 | 1033 | 2219 | 513 | 773 | ||
| Cases/PYs (1/1000) | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | ||
| Model 1 | 1.00 | 0.89 (0.80 to 0.99) | 0.86 (0.78 to 0.94) | 0.74 (0.65 to 0.84) | 0.75 (0.67 to 0.84) | <0.001 | 0.92 (0.89 to 0.95) |
| Model 2 | 1.00 | 0.93 (0.84 to 1.04) | 0.93 (0.85 to 1.03) | 0.83 (0.73 to 0.94) | 0.85 (0.76 to 0.96) | 0.001 | 0.95 (0.92 to 0.98) |
| Model 3 | 1.00 | 0.93 (0.84 to 1.04) | 0.93 (0.85 to 1.03) | 0.83 (0.73 to 0.94) | 0.86 (0.76 to 0.97) | 0.004 | 0.96 (0.93 to 0.99) |
| Haemorrhagic stroke | |||||||
| Cases | 953 | 1565 | 3080 | 757 | 723 | ||
| Cases/PYs (1/1000) | 2.5 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.3 | ||
| Model 1 | 1.00 | 0.80 (0.73 to 0.86) | 0.72 (0.67 to 0.78) | 0.64 (0.58 to 0.71) | 0.58 (0.52 to 0.64) | <0.001 | 0.86 (0.84 to 0.88) |
| Model 2 | 1.00 | 0.86 (0.79 to 0.93) | 0.82 (0.76 to 0.88) | 0.76 (0.68 to 0.84) | 0.70 (0.63 to 0.78) | <0.001 | 0.91 (0.88 to 0.93) |
| Model 3 | 1.00 | 0.86 (0.79 to 0.93) | 0.82 (0.76 to 0.88) | 0.77 (0.70 to 0.86) | 0.74 (0.67 to 0.82) | <0.001 | 0.92 (0.90 to 0.95) |
| Ischaemic stroke | |||||||
| Cases | 2840 | 5514 | 12 620 | 2613 | 4158 | ||
| Cases/PYs (1/1000) | 7.6 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.0 | 7.7 | ||
| Model 1 | 1.00 | 0.95 (0.91 to 0.99) | 0.91 (0.87 to 0.95) | 0.88 (0.83 to 0.93) | 0.81 (0.77 to 0.86) | <0.001 | 0.94 (0.93 to 0.96) |
| Model 2 | 1.00 | 0.98 (0.94 to 1.03) | 0.95 (0.91 to 0.99) | 0.94 (0.89 to 0.99) | 0.88 (0.84 to 0.93) | <0.001 | 0.96 (0.95 to 0.98) |
| Model 3 | 1.00 | 0.98 (0.94 to 1.03) | 0.95 (0.91 to 1.00) | 0.95 (0.90 to 1.00) | 0.90 (0.85 to 0.95) | <0.001 | 0.97 (0.96 to 0.98) |
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 models.
†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; MCE, major coronary events; MET, metabolic equivalent task; PY, person-years.