Serum Serine and the Risk of All-Cause Mortality: A Nested Case-Control Study From the China Stroke Primary Prevention Trial (CSPPT)

Background: Serine plays a key role in numerous cellular processes, the levels and metabolism is therefore of critical importance. However, few data are available to illustrate the association of serine with long-term health effects, especially, the predictive value for long-term mortality. Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between serum serine levels and all-cause mortality in general hypertensive patients in a longitudinal cohort, and to examine the potential effect modifiers. Methods: A nested case-control (NCC) study was conducted utilizing 20702 hypertensive participants from the China Stroke Primary Prevention Trial (CSPPT), a randomized, double-blind, actively controlled trial conducted from May 2008 to August 2013 in China. The current study included 291 cases of all-cause mortality and 291 controls matched on age (<= 1 year), sex and treatment group. All-cause mortality was the main outcome in this analysis, which included death due to any reason. Results: With the increase in serum serine levels, the risk of all-cause mortality first increased before flattening. After adjusting for related variables, the risk of mortality increased significantly with the increase of serum serine levels. Compared with group Q1, the mortality risk of group Q2, Q3 and Q4 were significantly increased [ORs, 95% CI: Q2: 2.32, (1.32-4.07); Q3: 2.59, (1.48-4.54); and Q4: 1.85, (1.07-3.22)]. In the exploratory analysis, we observed three effect modifiers, total homocysteine, 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate, and estimated glomerular filtration rate significantly modified the serum serine and all-cause mortality association. Conclusion: Serum serine levels were significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality in hypertensive patients. Our results and findings, if confirmed further, suggest that serum serine should be considered as a marker for screening risk factors of mortality.