HbA_1c in relation to cardiovascular, cancer, and other mortality among participants with diabetes. (a) Association between HbA_1c and cardiovascular mortality among participants with diabetes. (b) Association between HbA_1c and cancer mortality among participants with diabetes. (c) Association between HbA_1c and other mortality among participants with diabetes. HR (solid red lines) and 95% CIs (dashed black lines) from Cox models with penalized splines. Multivariate analyses were adjusted for age, sex, race, BMI, education level, smoking, drinking, cognitive function scores, CES-D scores, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, psychiatric problems, C-reactive protein, and total cholesterol. The levels of HbA_1c associated with the lowest risk of cardiovascular, cancer, and other mortality were used as references (6.53%, 6.03%, and 6.59%, respectively). The bar chart indicates the distribution of HbA_1c levels among participants with diabetes. df, degrees of freedom.