Furthermore, this association remained significant (highest GDF-15 tertile HR 5.55 CI95% (1.24–24.7), p = 0.025) after adjusting by clinical characteristics associated with cardiovascular mortality in our study: History of coronary artery disease (HR 3.6 CI95% (1.52–8.43), p = 0.005), age (HR 1.06 CI95% (1.02–1.11), p = 0.007), and diabetes (HR 2.37 CI95% (1.09–7.15), p = 0.03). The gene discussed is GDF15; the disease is coronary artery disorder.