Table 1.
Selected biochemical and anthropometric characteristics of the subjects.
| Men (n = 52) | Women (n = 48) | P | |||
| Mean or Median† | SD or quartiles | Mean or Median | SD or quartiles | ||
| Age (years) | 43.7 | 13.3 | 42.8 | 12.8 | 0.726a |
| Body mass Index (kg/m2) | 27.4 | 3.8 | 25.7 | 5.6 | 0.087a |
| Current smokers (%) | 34.7 | 27.6 | 0.640b | ||
| MET (minutes per week) | 1043 | 1046 | 951 | 954 | 0.658a |
| Lp-PLA2 activity (nmol/min/mL) | 24.8 | 4.5 | 19.6 | 5.0 | <0.05a |
| PAF-AH activity in leukocyte homogenates (pmol/min/mg) | 386 | 127 | 292 | 92 | <0.05a |
| Glucose (mmol/L) | 5.22 | 0.43 | 5.02 | 0.72 | 0.101a |
| Triglycerides (mmol/L) | 1.34 | 0.89–1.71 | 0.75 | 0.56–1.04 | <0.05a |
| Total cholesterol (mmol/L) | 5.66 | 0.97 | 5.47 | 1.20 | 0.396a |
| HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L) | 1.10 | 0.20 | 1.28 | 0.31 | <0.05a |
| LDL-cholestrerol (mmol/L) | 3.89 | 0.78 | 3.74 | 1.02 | 0.401a |
| C-reactive protein (mg/dL) | 0.40 | 0.34–0.49 | 0.39 | 0.31–0.48 | 0.438a |
| Waist circumference (cm) | 92.8 | 9.2 | 77.7 | 16.1 | <0.05a |
| Hip circumference (cm) | 104.7 | 7.0 | 103.8 | 15.7 | 0.696a |
| Waist- to- hip ratio | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.1 | <0.05a |
| Sagittal diameter (cm) | 23.4 | 3.4 | 20.1 | 4.5 | <0.05a |
| Abdominal skinfold (mm) | 28.3 | 7.2 | 27.4 | 10.0 | 0.612a |
| % Total body fat | 26.7 | 5.2 | 37.2 | 8.4 | <0.05a |
| DXA ROI fat (kg) | 3.0 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 0.116a |
| Legs fat (kg) | 6.8 | 3.0 | 9.2 | 3.9 | <0.05a |
| Arms lean tissue (kg) | 3.81 | 0.60 | 6.67 | 1.18 | <0.05a |
| Legs lean tissue (kg) | 12.45 | 1.95 | 18.78 | 2.85 | <0.05a |
MET: Metabolic equivalent, ROI: Region of interest, DXA: dual energy X-ray absorptiometry
† Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation for normally distributed variables. Otherwise data are presented as median ± lower (Q0.25) and upper (Q0.75) quartile.
a Student t-test was used to compare means.
b Chi-square test was used to compare percentages in the two groups.