AUTHOR=Chen Ziwei , He Jing , Chen Chu , Lu Qi 

TITLE=Association of Total Bilirubin With All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in the General Population

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2021.670768

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2021.670768

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> The study aims to investigate the association of total bilirubin with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the general population.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> A total of 37,234 adults from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2014 were enrolled. Baseline levels of total bilirubin associated with risk of mortality were evaluated on a continuous scale (restricted cubic splines) and by quartile categories with Cox regression models.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Higher levels of total bilirubin was positively associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 1.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.46–1.72; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001]. Compared with individuals with the lowest quartile of bilirubin, the multivariable adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality was 1.25 (1.14–1.37) for individuals in the highest quartile. Restricted cubic splines indicated that the association was non-linear in cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality while linear in all-cause mortality.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> Total bilirubin was associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the general population.</p>