Association between atherogenic index of plasma and all-cause mortality and specific-mortality: a nationwide population‑based cohort study

Abstract Background Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), a marker of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, few studies have investigated association between AIP and all-cause mortality and specific-mortality in the general population. Methods This study included data from 14,063 American adults. The exposure variable was the AIP, which was defined as log10 (triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). The outcome variables included all-cause mortality and specific-mortality. Survey-weighted cox regressions were performed to evaluate the relation between AIP and all-cause mortality and specific-mortality. Weighted restricted cubic spline was conducted to examin the non-linear relationship. Results During 10 years of follow-up, we documented 2,077, 262, 854, and 476 cases of all-cause mortality, diabetes mortality, CVD mortality and cancer mortality, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders, we found that atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) was significantly associated with an increased risk of diabetes mortality when comparing the highest to the lowest quantile of AIP in female ( p for trend = 0.001) or participants older than 65 years ( p for trend = 0.002). AIP was not significantly associated with all-cause mortality, CVD mortality and cancer mortality ( p > 0.05). Moreover, a non-linear association was observed between AIP and all-cause mortality in a U-shape ( p for non-linear = 0.0011), while a linear relationship was observed with diabetes mortality and non-diabetes mortality ( p for linear < 0.0001). Conclusions In this study, there is a no significant association between high AIP levels and a high risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Besides, a higher AIP was significantly associated with an increased risk of diabetes mortality, which only found in women older than 65 years. AIP was associated with all-cause mortality in a U-shape. This association could be explained by the finding that higher AIP predicted a higher risk of death from diabetes, and that lower AIP predicted a higher risk of death from non-diabetes causes.