Observational studyEuropean heart journal2021
Sodium intake, life expectancy, and all-cause mortality.
Observational study in European heart journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative effects of salt substitutes on blood pressure, cardiovascular events and mortality: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of diet and medication use among centenarians and near-centenarians worldwide.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Evidence-Based Guideline for the Management of CRMS/CFSPID.Pediatrics · 2024Guideline
- Sodium Intake and Incident Atrial Fibrillation in Individuals With Vascular Disease.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- [Potassium substitution: is replacing sodium with potassium-enriched salts beneficial?]Innere Medizin (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Exploring Salt Reduction Strategies: Navigating Policy Implementation in the Middle East.Food science & nutrition · 2026Review
- On the Road to Salt Liberation: The Effect of Including Oyster Mushrooms and Sylvinite on the Quality of Traditional Beef Patties.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Nutrition and longevity - diet in centenarians.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Residential Fast-Food Exposures, Colorectal Cancer-Specific, and All-Cause Mortality: A Retrospective Study of CRC Cases from the Kentucky Cancer Registry.Nutrition and cancer · 2026Article
- Lack of knowledge about the hypotensive effects of potassium and dairy: current hypertension-related knowledge and results of a knowledge intervention in Japanese workers.Environmental and occupational health practice · 2026Article
- High salt intake and its dual impact on obesity and cardiovascular mortality in individuals over 50: a paradoxical relationship.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota related steroid hormone biosynthesis provide novel insights into high-salt diet related renal injury vit gut-kidney axis.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Disease burden, lifetime healthcare cost and long-term intervention impact projections among older adults in Singapore.Nature aging · 2025Article
- Associations and mediators of estimated sodium intake with cardiovascular mortality: data based on a national population cohort.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Quantifying the loss of healthy life expectancy due to population ageing: health benefit estimation from a global perspective.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Unraveling life expectancy and death spectrum changes of registered residents (hukou) in Quzhou, China, 2015-2023: a study using Arriaga decomposition method.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Dietary sodium intake and all-cause mortality in rheumatoid arthritis: an NHANES analysis (2003-2018).Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Ethnic differences in knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to dietary salt intake and association with hypertension in Malaysia: a multi-centre cross-sectional study.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2025Article
- The relationship between dietary sodium intake and all-cause mortality in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a cohort study from NHANES 2003-2018.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Practical use and target value of urine sodium-to-potassium ratio in assessment of hypertension risk for Japanese: Consensus Statement by the Japanese Society of Hypertension Working Group on Urine Sodium-to-Potassium Ratio.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
aimsSince dietary sodium intake has been identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death, a high sodium intake can be expected to curtail life span. We tested this hypothesis by analysing the relationship between sodium intake and life expectancy as well as survival in 181 countries worldwide. METHODS AND
resultsWe correlated age-standardized estimates of country-specific average sodium consumption with healthy life expectancy at birth and at age of 60 years, death due to non-communicable diseases and all-cause mortality for the year of 2010, after adjusting for potential confounders such as gross domestic product per capita and body mass index. We considered global health estimates as provided by World Health Organization. Among the 181 countries included in this analysis, we found a positive correlation between sodium intake and healthy life expectancy at birth (β = 2.6 years/g of daily sodium intake, R2 = 0.66, P < 0.001), as well as healthy life expectancy at age 60 (β = 0.3 years/g of daily sodium intake, R2 = 0.60, P = 0.048) but not for death due to non-communicable diseases (β = 17 events/g of daily sodium intake, R2 = 0.43, P = 0.100). Conversely, all-cause mortality correlated inversely with sodium intake (β = -131 events/g of daily sodium intake, R2 = 0.60, P < 0.001). In a sensitivity analysis restricted to 46 countries in the highest income class, sodium intake continued to correlate positively with healthy life expectancy at birth (β = 3.4 years/g of daily sodium intake, R2 = 0.53, P < 0.001) and inversely with all-cause mortality (β = -168 events/g of daily sodium intake, R2 = 0.50, P < 0.001).
conclusionOur observation of sodium intake correlating positively with life expectancy and inversely with all-cause mortality worldwide and in high-income countries argues against dietary sodium intake being a culprit of curtailing life span or a risk factor for premature death. These data are observational and should not be used as a base for nutritional interventions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.