Background: L-Arginine and its dimethylated derivatives asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) have been associated with cardiovascular (CV) and all-cause mortality in populations at risk. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of L-arginine and its derivatives in the general population.
Methods and results: We evaluated 3,952 individuals (1,936 men and 2,016 women) aged 20-81 (median (IQR) 51 (37; 64) years) from the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Associations of continuous [per standard deviation (SD) increase] and categorized (age- and sex-specific tertiles) serum L-arginine, ADMA, and SDMA concentrations with all-cause and cause-specific mortality were analysed. During a median (IQR) follow-up period of 10.1 (9.3; 10.8) years (38,476 person-years), 426 deaths (10.8%) were observed, including 139 CV deaths (3.5%), and 150 cancer deaths (3.8%). After multivariable adjustment, we revealed a positive association of SDMA with all-cause [hazard ratio (HR) per SD increase: 1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07-1.25] and CV mortality [HR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.05-1.35]. In contrast, we did not observe any association of SDMA with cancer mortality. Neither L-arginine nor ADMA were associated with all-cause or CV mortality.
Conclusion: SDMA, but not ADMA, is an independent predictor of all-cause and CV mortality in a large population-based cohort of European ancestry.