Fig. 3

Adjusted Odds Ratios (95% CI) of Mortality and morbidity by Glycated Hemoglobin levels

The curve represents adjusted rate ratio (RR) of mortality (panel 1), CHD hospitalization (panel 2) and stroke hospitalization (panel 3) by glycated hemoglobin levels, based on restricted quadratic splines with knots at the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentiles (5.6%, 6.7% and 8.9%, respectively) of the glycated hemoglobin distribution. The reference value (RR = 1) was set at 5.6% of the Glycated Hemoglobin. RRs were adjusted for age (restricted quadratic splines with 5 knots), sex, smoking status (never, former, current), obesity (no, yes), hypertension (no, yes), chronic kidney disease (no, yes), HDL cholesterol ≤40 for men and ≤ 50 for women (no, yes), LDL ≥ 130 mg/dL (no, yes), anti-hypertensive medication (no, yes), glucose lowering medication (no, yes), lipid lowering medication (no, yes). For a given value (%) of glycated hemoglobin distribution, the corresponding RR is interpreted as the expected change in the rate of mortality and CVD hospitalization, associated to changing glycated hemoglobin from a given value, to the reference (6.5%). For example, model estimates suggest that the RR for mortality of participants in the 90th percentile of glycated hemoglobin (8.9%) is 80% higher, compared to participants in the Reference (6.5%).