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. 2019 Apr 15;19(1):104.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-019-1109-z.

Associations between superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde and all-cause mortality in older adults: a community-based cohort study

Chen Mao  1 , Jin-Qiu Yuan  2   3 , Yue-Bin Lv  4 , Xiang Gao  5 , Zhao-Xue Yin  5 , Virginia Byers Kraus  6 , Jie-Si Luo  7 , Choy-Lye Chei  8 , David Bruce Matchar  8   9 , Yi Zeng  10   9 , Xiao-Ming Shi  11   12
Affiliations

Associations between superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde and all-cause mortality in older adults: a community-based cohort study

Chen Mao et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Oxidative stress is an important theory of aging but population-based evidence has been lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between biomarkers of oxidative stress, including plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA), with all-cause mortality in older adults.

Methods: This is a community-based cohort study of 2224 participants (women:1227, median age: 86 years). We included individuals aged 65 or above and with plasma SOD activity and/or MDA tests at baseline. We evaluated the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by multivariable Cox models.

Results: We documented 858 deaths during six years of follow-up. There was a significant interaction effect of sex with the association between SOD activity and mortality (P < 0.001). Compared with the lowest quintile, the risk of all-cause mortality was inversely associated with increasing quintiles of plasma SOD activity in women(P-trend< 0.001), with adjusted HRs for the second through fifth quintiles of 0.73 (95% CI 0.53-1.02), 0.52(95% CI 0.38-0.72), 0.53(95% CI 0.39-0.73), and 0.48(95% CI 0.35-0.66). There were no significant associations between SOD activity and mortality in men (P-trend = 0.64), and between MDA and mortality in all participants (P-trend = 0.79).

Conclusions: Increased activity of SOD was independently associated with lower all-cause mortality in older women but not in men. This epidemiological study lent support for the free radical/oxidative stress theory of aging.

Keywords: Aging; Cohort; Malondialdehyde; Mortality; Superoxide dismutase.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All participants signed an informed consent form prior to participation and the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University and Duke University.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of participant enrolment SOD: Superoxide dismutase, MDA: Malondialdehyde.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Subgroup analyses for the hazard ratio of all-cause mortality for each 10 U/mL increase in superoxide dismutase activity in women. HR: hazard ratio; CI: confidence interval; BMI: body mass index
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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