Fig. 2

Adjusted hazard ratios of MACE, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and cardiac death associated with triglyceride levels in statin-treated patients. Splines were analyzed in a subcohort of patients who had complete information on all covariates included in the model (n = 26,098 [96%]). We excluded outliers outside of the 1st and 99th percentile of triglyceride distribution (triglycerides = 0.5 mmol/L and 6.2 mmol/L [rounded to 6.0 mmol/L]). MACE was a composite outcome of acute myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and cardiac death within a median follow-up time of 6.7 years (quartiles: 3.6, 9.1 years). Solid navy lines are adjusted HRs and grey shades depict the 95% confidence interval based on the restricted cubic spline regression. The reference value was 1.0 mmol/L. The location of the knots was determined by the percentiles recommended in previous literature, corresponding to the 5th, 35th, 65th, and 95th percentiles [31, 43]. In the study cohort, the 5th percentile of the triglyceride distribution corresponded to 0.5 mmol/L and the 95th percentile corresponded to 3.8 mmol/L. The model was adjusted for age, sex, calendar year, markers of smoking, hypertension, kidney function (eGFR), glucose-lowering drug therapy (including insulin), and HbA1c levels. CVD cardiovascular disease; HR hazard ratio; MACE major adverse cardiovascular events