Table 1. Characteristics of the patient and control study groups.

Mean values for each measurement are shown together with minimum and maximum values.

	Controls	Patients
Age (y)	47.14	52.87
	22 - 83	24 - 77
Height (m)	1.67	1.73
	1.52 - 1.83	1.54 - 1.88
Weight (kg)	86.05	90.54
	59.6 - 143	58.7 - 125
Waist circumference (cm)	105.61	105.00
	73.6 - 149	77 - 129
BMI (kg m-2)	30.81	30.51
	22.0 - 49 .5	18.8 - 39.4
Triglycerides (mmol L-1)	1.32	1.57
	0.6 - 4.6	0.5 - 4.8
Cholesterol (mmol L-1)	5.69	6.01
	3.9 - 7.8	3.7 - 8.7
High density lipoproteins (mmol L-1)	1.61	1.51
	1.0 - 2.6	0.8 - 2.8