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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of individuals with, and without, clinically-apparent cardiovascular disease, by frailty status

From: Associations between inflammation, coagulation, cardiac strain and injury, and subclinical vascular disease with frailty in older men: a cross-sectional study

  Free of clinically-apparent cardiovascular disease (n = 1096) Has clinically-apparent cardiovascular disease (n = 303)
Robust (n = 341) Pre-frail (n = 603) Frail (n = 152) p for trend* Robust (n = 53) Pre-frail (n = 168) Frail (n = 82) p for trend*
Age (years) 77 (3.6) 78 (4.5) 81 (5.3) < 0.0001 78 (4.4) 78 (4.1) 80 (5.4) 0.003
Manual occupation 146 (43%) 263 (44%) 73 (48%) 0.37 25 (47%) 74 (44%) 46 (56%) 0.20
 Never smoked 153 (45%) 239 (40%) 47 (31%) 0.04 16 (30%) 57 (34%) 21 (26%) 0.50
 Long-term ex-smoker 164 (48%) 316 (52%) 92 (61%) 34 (64%) 98 (58%) 56 (68%)
 Recent ex-smoker 13 (4%) 26 (4%) 9 (6%) 3 (6%) 6 (4%) 2 (2%)
 Current smoker 11 (3%) 22 (4%) 4 (3%) 0 7 (4%) 3 (4%)
Physical measurements
 Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) 148 (18) 147 (18) 143 (20) 0.07 145 (19) 141 (20) 136 (23) 0.01
 Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) 78 (11) 77 (11) 75 (12) 0.10 75 (11) 73 (11) 69 (12) 0.001
 BMI < 20 kg/m2 3 (0.9%) 13 (2%) 6 (4%) 0.007 0 3 (2%) 6 (7%) 0.01
 BMI 20–24.9 kg/m2 118 (35%) 162 (27%) 41 (27%) 17 (32%) 36 (21%) 16 (20%)
 BMI 25–29.9 kg/m2 174 (51%) 311 (52%) 76 (50%) 28 (53%) 92 *55%) 38 (46%)
 BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 46 (13%) 117 (19%) 29 (19%) 9 (15%) 37 (22%) 22 (27%)
Comorbidities
 Mild cognitive impairment 119 (35%) 246 (41%) 75 (49%) 0.005 20 (38%) 69 (41%) 36 (44%) 0.14
 Severe cognitive impairment 25 (7%) 44 (7%) 14 (9%) 5 (9%) 17 (10%) 14 (17%)
 Diabetes mellitus 42 (12%) 83 (14%) 36 (24%) 0.007 10 (19%) 34 (20%) 21 (26%) 0.30
 eGFR 77 (14) 74 (18) 69 (20) < 0.0001 73 (16) 68 (20) 65 (19) 0.05
 Peripheral vascular disease 2 (0.6%) 24 (4%) 7 (5%) 0.006 2 (4%) 8 (5%) 10 (12%) 0.03
 Prior myocardial infarction – – –   37 (70%) 114 (68%) 50 (61%) 0.24
 Heart failure – – –   9 (17%) 37 (22%) 34 (41%) 0.0005
 Prior stroke – – –   14 (26%) 49 (29%) 27 (33%) 0.40
Total number of comorbidities (not including MI, HF or stroke)
 Zero or one 140 (41%) 198 (33%) 23 (15%) < 0.0001 20 (38%) 35 (21%) 8 (10%) < 0.0001
 Two, three or four 174 (51%) 321 (56%) 80 (53%) 31 (58%) 98 (58%) 45 (55%)
 Five or more 27 (8%) 84 (14%) 49 (32%) 2 (4%) 35 (21%) 29 (35%)
Taking five or more regular medications 71 (21%) 191 (32%) 73 (48%) < 0.0001 29 (55%) 112 (67%) 61 (74%) 0.02
Inflammatory biomarkers
 CRP (mg/L) 1.0 (0.5–2.0) 1.4 (0.7–3.1) 1.9 (0.7–5.1) < 0.0001† 0.8 (0.3–1.9) 1.5 (0.7–3.0) 2.0 (0.7–5.2) 0.0002†
 IL-6 (pg/mL) 2.3 (1.5–3.4) 3.1 (1.9–4.6) 3.9 (2.2–6.2) < 0.0001† 2.7 (1.6–4.1) 3.2 (1.8–4.7) 4.6 (2.5–7.2) < 0.0001†
Coagulation biomarkers
 tPA (ng/mL) 8.3 (6.1–11) 9.1 (6.7–12) 10.0 (7.5–13) < 0.0001† 8.6 (6.6–10.8) 9.5 (7.0–12.5) 9.1 (6.4–12.8) 0.36†
 D-dimer (ng/mL) 198 (140–270) 233 (158–314) 263 (165–412) < 0.0001† 248 (143–337) 239 (144–326) 306 (218–434) 0.03†
Endothelial biomarkers
 vWF (IU/dL) 107 (79–133) 119 (91–143) 131 (101–177) < 0.0001† 120 (88–142) 127 (91–177) 144 (100–227) 0.11†
Cardiac biomarkers
 hs-cTnT (pg/mL) 8.4 (6.1–13) 10.5 (7.2–15) 15.0 (9.1–23) < 0.0001† 10 (6.5–16.4) 11 (7.2–16.4) 20 (12.8–32.5) < 0.0001†
 NT-proBNP (pg/mL) 87 (51–156) 123 (64–244) 198 (97–492) < 0.0001† 227 (115–516) 196 (89–572) 479 (162–1700) 0.0001†
Imaging
 CIMT (mm) 0.79 (0.2) 0.80 (0.2) 0.83 (0.2) 0.001 – – – –
 cfPWV (m/s) 9.9 (1.7) 10.4 (1.6) 10.5 (1.6) 0.0002 – – – –
 DC (10−3 kPa) 13.1 (4.1) 12.1 (4.1) 11.0 (3.6) < 0.0001 – – – –
 ABPI < 0.9 65 (20%) 142 (25%) 40 (32%) 0.007 – – – –
 ABPI > 1.4 10 (3%) 10 (2%) 2 (2%) 0.20 – – – –
  1. Values are mean (SD) for normally-distributed continuous variables, n (%) for categorical variables, and geometric mean (interquartile range) for non-normally distributed continuous variables
  2. *“Trend” denotes p value for association with frailty status modelled as an ordinal variable
  3. †Statistical comparisons made with variable natural log-transformed
  4. BMI body mass index, eGFR estimated glomerular filtration rate, CRP C-reactive protein, IL-6 interleukin-6, tPA tissue plasminogen activator, vWF von Willebrand factor, hs-cTnT high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, NT-proBNP N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide, CIMT carotid intima media thickness, cfPWV carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, DC carotid distensibility coefficient, ABPI ankle brachial pressure index
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BMC Geriatrics

ISSN: 1471-2318

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