Skin autofluorescence and cause-specific mortality in a population-based cohort

We aimed to assess the association of SAF with cardiovascular mortality in the general population and the possible association between SAF with other disease-specific mortality rates. We evaluated 77,143 participants without known diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The cause of death was ascertained by the municipality database. The associations between SAF and all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality were assessed with Cox proportional hazard analysis.After a median follow-up of 115 months, 1447 participants were deceased (1.9%). SAF and age-adjusted SAF-z score were higher in all mortality groups. Cox regression analysis revealed that the highest quartile of SAF was associated with increased odds of cardiovascular mortality, (HR) 12.6 (7.3-21.7) and after adjusting for age (HR 1.8 (1.0-3.2)). Significance was lost after additional adjustments for sex, smoking status, and BMI (HR 1.4 (0.8-2.5). For cancer-related mortality the highest quartile of SAF was associated with higher probability of mortality in all models (unadjusted HR 8.6 (6.6-11.3), adjusted for age HR 2.1 (1.6-2.8)), adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, and BMI HR 1.7 (1.3-2.4)). SAF is associated with all-cause mortality as well as cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality in the general population.