Reanalysis of NHANES III data on sodium association with mortality: appropriate adjustment for potassium not performed.

摘要

In their reanalysis of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), Yang et al reached an opposite conclusion from the first NHANES III analysis of almost the same data and other recent population studies, which show that low sodium intake is associated with increased mortality.According to eTable 7 in their article, all-cause mortality decreases with increasing sodium intake: quintile (Q) 1,699; Q2,509; Q3,450; Q4,372; and Q5, 240 (based on single 24-hour dietary recall). Remarkably, the adjustments performed by Yang et al not only attenuated this trend but reversed it. This may be because Yang et al, in contrast to the majority of similar studies, did not adjust for potassium.