We observed no evidence of a significant difference for age group (≥ 65 years and < 65 years), sex (men or women), current smoking status (smoker or nonsmoker), current alcohol consumption (drinker or nondrinker), regular exercise (yes or no), or BMI (< 30 or ≥ 30 kg/m2) (all P for interaction > 0.05) regarding the associations of cystatin C concentrations with all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality (Fig. 2). Here, CST3 is linked to cancer.