Table 2 Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of colorectal-cancer (CRC)-specific mortality, other mortality (deaths due to causes other than CRC), and all-cause mortality according to post-diagnosisa beverage and sugar intake among CRC patients in the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (n = 1463).

From: Sugar-sweetened beverage, artificially sweetened beverage and sugar intake and colorectal cancer survival

 

No. of person-years

No. of deaths

Age, sex, stage-adjusted HR (95% CI)b

P-value

Multivariable-adjusted HR (95% CI)c

P-value

Post-diagnosis beverage intake, per 1 serving/dayd

Sugar-sweetened beverages

 CRC-specific mortality

14,618

173

1.30 (0.98–1.72)

0.066

1.21 (0.87–1.68)

0.249

 Other (non-CRC) mortality

 

608

1.05 (0.87–1.26)

0.597

1.04 (0.85–1.29)

0.682

 All-cause mortality

 

781

1.12 (0.96–1.30)

0.161

1.11 (0.94–1.32)

0.237

Artificially sweetened beverages

 CRC-specific mortality

14,618

173

0.61 (0.40–0.94)

0.025

0.44 (0.26–0.75)

0.002

 Other (non-CRC) mortality

 

608

1.08 (0.86–1.35)

0.507

0.79 (0.59–1.04)

0.096

 All-cause mortality

 

781

0.95 (0.78–1.16)

0.602

0.70 (0.55–0.89)

0.004

Fruit juice

 CRC-specific mortality

14,618

173

1.11 (0.93–1.32)

0.242

1.11 (0.91–1.36)

0.304

 Other (non-CRC) mortality

 

608

0.95 (0.85–1.05)

0.306

1.03 (0.92–1.16)

0.584

 All-cause mortality

 

781

0.99 (0.90–1.08)

0.776

1.04 (0.94–1.15)

0.406

Post-diagnosis sugar intake, per 20 g/day

Total fructose

 CRC-specific mortality

14,618

173

1.17 (0.95–1.43)

0.148

1.24 (0.95–1.63)

0.120

 Other (non-CRC) mortality

 

608

0.88 (0.78–1.00)

0.050

1.17 (1.00–1.36)

0.049

 All-cause mortality

 

781

0.95 (0.85–1.05)

0.302

1.18 (1.04–1.35)

0.014

Total glucose

 CRC-specific mortality

14,618

173

1.17 (0.94–1.45)

0.173

1.24 (0.93–1.64)

0.140

 Other (non-CRC) mortality

 

608

0.87 (0.77–1.00)

0.046

1.17 (1.00–1.37)

0.052

 All-cause mortality

 

781

0.94 (0.84–1.05)

0.265

1.17 (1.03–1.34)

0.020

Sucrose

 CRC-specific mortality

14,618

173

1.16 (0.96–1.39)

0.117

1.21 (0.96–1.53)

0.111

 Other (non-CRC) mortality

 

608

0.93 (0.83–1.04)

0.227

1.11 (0.97–1.26)

0.128

 All-cause mortality

 

781

0.99 (0.90–1.09)

0.766

1.12 (1.00–1.25)

0.055

Added sugar

 CRC-specific mortality

14,618

173

1.10 (0.96–1.26)

0.178

1.14 (0.96–1.36)

0.132

 Other (non-CRC) mortality

 

608

0.95 (0.88–1.03)

0.218

1.02 (0.93–1.12)

0.668

 All-cause mortality

 

781

0.99 (0.92–1.06)

0.674

1.04 (0.95–1.13)

0.400

  1. aPost-diagnosis intake was assessed at least 6 months but no more than 4 years after diagnosis.
  2. bCox proportional hazards regression model adjusted for age groups at diagnosis (<60, 60–64, 65–69, 70–74 and ≥75 years), sex (women/men) and cancer stage (I, II, III and unspecified) as stratification factors, with additional adjustment for age at diagnosis (continuous).
  3. cFurther adjusted for year of diagnosis (continuous), tumour grade of differentiation (1–3 and unspecified), subsite (proximal colon, distal colon, rectum and unspecified), history of diabetes (yes/no), pre-diagnosis intake of the respective beverage or sugar variable (<1, 1–4, ≥5 servings/week for sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages; <1, 1–4, 5–7 servings/week, >1 serving/day for fruit juice; sex-specific quartiles for sugar variables) and post-diagnosis alcohol consumption (<0.15, 0.15–1.9, 2.0–7.4, ≥7.5 grams/day), pack-years of smoking (0, 1–15, 16–25, 26–45, >45), BMI (<23, 23–24.9, 25–27.4, 27.5–29.9, ≥30 kg/m2), physical activity (women: <5, 5–11.4, 11.5–21.9, ≥22 MET-hours/week; men: <7, 7–14.9, 15–24.9, ≥25 MET-hours/week), regular use of aspirin or NSAIDs (≥2 tablets/week, yes/no), consumption of folate, calcium, vitamin D, red and processed meat and total energy intake (sex-specific quartiles), and, in women only, chemotherapy use (yes/no, available in women only) and post-menopausal hormone use (pre-menopausal, never, past, current users). Post- and pre-diagnosis sugar-sweetened beverage and artificially sweetened beverage intakes were mutually adjusted for each other (<1, 1–4, ≥5 servings/week), and the sugar intakes were additionally adjusted for post-diagnosis fruit and vegetable consumption (sex-specific quartiles).
  4. dA continuous measure of intake was used for all except for artificially sweetened beverages in which categories of intake were used (<1, 1–4, ≥5 servings/week), with the HR for ≥5 servings/week compared to <1 serving/week (reference group) shown in the table.
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