title: A U-shaped relationship between haematocrit and mortality in a large prospective cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Only a limited number of studies have investigated the correlation between haematocrit (HCT) and mortality in the general population, and few of those studies have had data on a wide range of low and high levels of HCT. We investigated the association between baseline HCT and mortality in a prospective cohort study of 49,983 adult subjects in Iran with a broad spectrum of HCT values.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on socio-demographic and life-style factors, past medical history, and levels of HCT were collected at enrollment. During a mean follow-up of 5 years (follow-up success rate ~99%), 2262 deaths were reported. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a U-shaped relationship between categories of HCT and mortality in both sexes: both low and high levels of HCT were associated with increased overall mortality and mortality from cardiovascular disease. The U-shaped relationship persisted after several sensitivity analyses were done, including analyses restricted to non-smokers and non-users of opium; analyses excluding deaths from accidents and other external causes as well as deaths of persons with self-reported ischemic heart disease at the baseline interview for the study; and analyses excluding the first 2 years of follow-up. Self-reported past medical history and lack of data about lipids and other cellular blood components were the major limitations of the study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low and high levels of HCT are associated with increased mortality in the general population. The findings in the present study can be of particular importance for low- and middle-income countries in which a substantial proportion of the population lives with suboptimal levels of HCT.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Transitional Epidemiology and the Tisch Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. paolo.boffetta@mssm.edu
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boffetta
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Islami
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vedanthan
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pourshams
authors.forename: Farin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kamangar
authors.forename: Hooman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khademi
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Etemadi
authors.forename: Rasool
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salahi
authors.forename: Shahryar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Semnani
authors.forename: Ashkan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Emadi
authors.forename: Christian C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Abnet
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Pharoah
authors.forename: Sanford M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dawsey
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population