Nutrition and inflammation serum biomarkers are associated with 12-week mortality among malnourished adults initiating antiretroviral therapy in Zambia

Table 2 Adjusted hazard ratios for mortality and loss to follow up at 90 days

Baseline serum biomarker	AHR mortality (95% CI)^a	p-value	AHR mortality or loss to follow up (95% CI)	p-value
Phosphate, mmol/L
0.87 (ref)	1.00	0.016	1.00	0.855
1.0	0.79 (0.67, 0.93)		0.97 (0.88, 1.08)
1.5	0.31 (0.14, 0.69)		0.87 (0.53, 1.43)
Albumin, g/L
25 (ref)	1.00	<0.001	1.00	<0.001
30	0.52 (0.38, 0.70)		0.65 (0.53, 0.79)
35	0.49 (0.24, 1.01)		0.72 (0.48, 1.08)
Ferritin, μg/L
25 (ref)	1.00	<0.001	1.00	0.002
250	1.67 (1.30, 2.15)		1.37 (1.15, 1.62)
1000	9.28 (3.13, 27.50)		3.86 (1.83, 8.17)
hsCRP, mg/L
5 (ref)	1.00	0.027	1.00	0.103
10	1.56 (1.04, 2.33)		1.27 (1.00, 1.62)
15	1.96 (1.12, 3.44)		1.41 (1.01, 1.95)

^a Models adjusted for sex and a first principal component (incorporating age, body mass index, CD4⁺ lymphocyte count, and haemoglobin)
Abbreviation: hsCRP, highly sensitive C-reactive protein
Note: There was evidence that the association between albumin and hsCRP, and the hazard of death was non-linear (p < 0.10), and there was evidence that the association between albumin and the hazard of the combined endpoint of mortality and loss to follow up was non-linear (p < 0.10).