Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of study participants.
| TC level before T2D diagnosis (mg/dL) | Low (< 180 mg/dL) | Middle (180–240 mg/dL) | High (≥ 240 mg/dL) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC level after T2D diagnosis (mg/dL) | Low | Middle | High | Low | Middle | High | Low | Middle | High |
| Number of subjects, n (%) | 3681 (65.2) | 1815 (32.2) | 148 (2.6) | 4367 (32.9) | 7662 (57.7) | 1245 (9.4) | 1093 (22.3) | 2395 (48.8) | 1415 (28.9) |
| Age, years, mean (SD) | 61.1 (9.3) | 60.5 (9.2) | 59.0 (9.1) | 59.7 (8.7) | 59.3 (8.9) | 59.9 (9.1) | 59.2 (8.2) | 59.4 (8.9) | 59.0 (8.7) |
| Sex, % | |||||||||
| Men | 74 | 65 | 52 | 67 | 63 | 53 | 55 | 56 | 49 |
| Women | 26 | 35 | 48 | 33 | 37 | 48 | 46 | 44 | 51 |
| Socioeconomic status, % | |||||||||
| 1st quartile (lowest) | 16 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 18 |
| 2nd quartile | 21 | 23 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 3rd quartile | 30 | 30 | 34 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 32 |
| 4th quartile (highest) | 35 | 33 | 29 | 36 | 36 | 30 | 36 | 34 | 28 |
| BMI, kg/m2, mean (SD) | 24.5 (3.1) | 24.8 (3.1) | 25.7 (3.4) | 24.9 (3.1) | 25.1 (3.1) | 25.3 (3.0) | 25.1 (3.0) | 25.2 (2.9) | 25.3 (3.1) |
| Smoking status, % | |||||||||
| Non-smoker | 78 | 78 | 10 | 79 | 78 | 83 | 82 | 80 | 80 |
| Smoker | 22 | 22 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 20 |
| Alcohol consumption, per week, % | |||||||||
| 0 | 55 | 57 | 62 | 56 | 56 | 62 | 60 | 60 | 63 |
| < 1 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
| 1–2 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 11 |
| 3–4 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| ≥ 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Physical activity, per week, % | |||||||||
| 0 | 47 | 50 | 58 | 46 | 48 | 53 | 44 | 49 | 51 |
| 1–2 | 23 | 24 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 3–4 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 13 |
| 5–6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mmHg, mean (SD) | 127.6 (15.8) | 129.6(15.6) | 130.3 (17.2) | 127.5 (15.3) | 129.1 (15.5) | 130.8 (16.7) | 126.5 (14.3) | 129.3 (15.4) | 131.2 (16.8) |
| Fasting serum glucose, mg/dL, mean (SD) | 126.4 (44.1) | 129.8 (44.4) | 136.0 (55.7) | 122.6 (37.2) | 129.0 (42.0) | 137.5 (49.9) | 121.2 (36.6) | 127.8 (40.7) | 139.0 (49.1) |
| Aspartate transaminase, U/L (SD) | 30.5 (23.5) | 29.7 (17.2) | 33.3 (27.6) | 28.5 (20.1) | 28.3 (17.1) | 30.0 (24.6) | 28.2 (14.9) | 28.4 (15.9) | 29.4 (17.2) |
| Alanine transaminase, U/L (SD) | 30.1 (23.1) | 31.0 (22.5) | 34.3 (20.1) | 30.5 (28.6) | 30.4 (22.7) | 32.5 (28.9) | 31.7 (25.5) | 30.3 (21.1) | 32.1 (26.5) |
| Gamma-GTP (SD) | 54.5 (91.2) | 52.5 (68.4) | 66.3 (96.5) | 46.0 (58.1) | 49.5 (63.6) | 56.4 (80.2) | 48.2 (61.6) | 53.5 (70.7) | 61.7 (78.3) |
| Use of lipid-lowering drugs, % | |||||||||
| No | 72 | 76 | 46 | 53 | 70 | 49 | 14 | 43 | 37 |
| Statin | 26 | 22 | 53 | 45 | 28 | 50 | 86 | 55 | 62 |
| Others (fibrate, ezetimibe) alone | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Anti-diabetic medication, % | |||||||||
| Metformin only | 19 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 16 | 21 | 15 | 14 |
| Metformin and sulfonylurea | 45 | 47 | 45 | 43 | 50 | 52 | 39 | 50 | 52 |
| Other drugs | 36 | 35 | 36 | 38 | 33 | 32 | 40 | 35 | 33 |
TC total cholesterol, T2D type 2 diabetes mellitus, SD standard deviation, n number, BMI body mass index.