title: Serum β-carotene and the risk of sudden cardiac death in men: a population-based follow-up study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether serum concentrations of carotenoids are related to the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in middle-aged men.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population consisted of 1031 Finnish men aged 46-65 years of the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) cohort. Serum concentrations of carotenoids were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. The hazard ratios (HR) of serum β-carotene, lycopene and α-carotene were estimated by using the Cox proportional hazard model after adjusting for age and other potential confounding factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During a median follow-up of 15.9 years a total of 59 incidents of SCD occurred. After controlling for age, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference, smoking, alcohol consumption, years of education, serum LDL cholesterol, serum hs-CRP, diabetes, prevalent coronary heart disease (CHD) and congestive heart failure (CHF), men in the lowest tertile of serum concentrations of β-carotene had a 2-fold increased risk of SCD (HR=2.15, 95% CI: 1.02-4.51; p=0.044) as compared to those in the highest tertile. The risk of SCD was borderline significant for lycopene. In addition, low serum β-carotene concentrations increased the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality. Lycopene and α-carotene were not related to the risk of SCD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that low serum β-carotene concentrations may increase the risk of SCD in middle-aged Finnish men. Furthermore, low serum β-carotene concentrations may be related to the risk of CVD and total mortality.
authors.affiliation: University of Eastern Finland, Department of Medicine, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. jouni.karppi@uef.fi
authors.forename: Jouni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karppi
authors.forename: Jari A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Laukkanen
authors.forename: Timo H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Mäkikallio
authors.forename: Kimmo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ronkainen
authors.forename: Sudhir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurl
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D019207:beta Carotene / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D019207:beta Carotene