Table 2.

TG concentration and the number of cases that exceeded the upper normal limit of TG concentration at three observation points in the general population and those treated versus those not treated with glucocorticoids.

	Time point of observation
	1	2	3
Group	General n=174			p value
TG (ng/ml), mean±SD	38.3 ± 55.0	32.2 ± 45.2	26.6 ± 41.3	<0.001* p1,2=0.025 p1,3=0.001 p2,3=0.003
TG>N, number of cases (%)	15 (8.6)	13 (7.5)	5 (3.0)	0.174*
Subgroup	GCG n=53			X
TG (ng/ml), mean±SD	31.3 ± 45.2	26.9 ± 46.3	21.7 ± 46.2	<0.001* p1,2<0.001 p1,3<0.001 p2,3<0.001
TG>N, number of cases (%)	7 (13.2)	7 (13.2)	2 (3.8)	0.379*
Subgroup	NGCG n=33			X
TG (ng/ml), mean±SD	44.3 ± 65.6	40.3 ± 54.7	34.2 ± 38.0	0.806*
TG>N, number of cases (%)	8 (24.2)	6 (18.2)	3 (9.1)	0.804*

GCG, patients treated with glucocorticoids; NGCG, patients not treated with glucocorticoids; N, upper limit of the norm. The General group: the mean TG concentration and the number of cases exceeding N were calculated for the entire population. The GCG and NGCG subgroups: the mean TG concentration and the number of cases exceeding N were calculated for patients with relevant data available for all three observation points.

*The marked p values were calculated for patients with relevant data available for all three observation points (General: n=86; GCG: n=53; NGCG: n=33).

Other p values were calculated for patients with relevant data available, with time points compared as indicated by numbers.