Fig. 2

Association of risk of ≥40% eGFR decline with (A) recent thymic emigrants count, (B) proportion of recent thymic emigrants among CD4⁺ T cells, (C) proportion of CD28⁻ cells among CD4⁺ T cells, and (D) proportion of CD28⁻ cells among CD8⁺ T cells. Models were performed using Cox proportional hazards regression models with restricted cubic splines. A linear association was observed between recent thymic emigrants count (RTEs), proportion of RTEs among CD4⁺ T cells (RTE%), and proportion of CD28⁻ cells among CD4⁺ T cells (CD28⁻/CD4⁺) with the risk of CKD progression. Decreased RTEs were associated with a higher risk of CKD progression (p = 0.04). Decreased RTE% and increased CD28⁻/CD4⁺ T cells tended to be associated with CKD progression. Models were adjusted for age, sex, estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) urinary protein, diabetes, and cytomegalovirus seropositive. The solid line indicates the log hazard ratio, and the grey area indicates 95% confidence interval