title: Dietary sodium content, mortality, and risk for cardiovascular events in older adults: the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Additional information is needed about the role of dietary sodium on health outcomes in older adults.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between dietary sodium intake and mortality, incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), and incident heart failure (HF) in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed 10-year follow-up data from 2642 older adults (age range, 71-80 years) participating in a community-based, prospective cohort study (inception between April 1, 1997, and July 31, 1998).
  
  
  METHODS
  Dietary sodium intake at baseline was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. We examined sodium intake as a continuous variable and as a categorical variable at the following levels: less than 1500 mg/d (291 participants [11.0%]), 1500 to 2300 mg/d (779 participants [29.5%]), and greater than 2300 mg/d (1572 participants [59.5%]).
  
  
  METHODS
  Adjudicated death, incident CVD, and incident HF during 10 follow-up years. Analysis of incident CVD was restricted to 1981 participants without prevalent CVD at baseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean (SD) age of participants was 73.6 (2.9) years, 51.2% were female, 61.7% were of white race, and 38.3% were black. After 10 years, 881 participants had died, 572 had developed CVD, and 398 had developed HF. In adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models, sodium intake was not associated with mortality (hazard ratio [HR] per 1 g, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.98-1.09; P = .27). Ten-year mortality was nonsignificantly lower in the group receiving 1500 to 2300 mg/d (30.7%) than in the group receiving less than 1500 mg/d (33.8%) and the group receiving greater than 2300 mg/d (35.2%) (P = .07). Sodium intake of greater than 2300 mg/d was associated with nonsignificantly higher mortality in adjusted models (HR vs 1500-2300 mg/d, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.99-1.35; P = .07). Indexing sodium intake for caloric intake and body mass index did not materially affect the results. Adjusted HRs for mortality were 1.20 (95% CI, 0.93-1.54; P = .16) per milligram per kilocalorie and 1.11 (95% CI, 0.96-1.28; P = .17) per 100 mg/kg/m2 of daily sodium intake. In adjusted models accounting for the competing risk for death, sodium intake was not associated with risk for CVD (subHR per 1 g, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.95-1.11; P = .47) or HF (subHR per 1 g, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.92-1.08; P = .92). No consistent interactions with sex, race, or hypertensive status were observed for any outcome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In older adults, food frequency questionnaire-assessed sodium intake was not associated with 10-year mortality, incident CVD, or incident HF, and consuming greater than 2300 mg/d of sodium was associated with nonsignificantly higher mortality in adjusted models.
authors.affiliation: Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Andreas P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Kalogeropoulos
authors.affiliation: Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Vasiliki V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Georgiopoulou
authors.affiliation: Intramural Research Program, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Science, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Center for Aging and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Douglas C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Intramural Research Program, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Science, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Tamara B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Section on Gerontology and Geriatrics, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Applegate
authors.affiliation: Section on Gerontology and Geriatrics, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kritchevsky
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001066:Appetite; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D004039:Diet, Sodium-Restricted; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D044469:Racial Groups; D012982:Sodium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D012982:Sodium, Dietary