Table 1. Demographic and hemodynamic characteristics and blood markers of control individuals and patients in the undetermined and cardiac forms.
| Variable | Group 0 Control (N = 44) | Group 1 Undetermined (N = 32) | Group 2 ECG findings (N = 14) | Group 3 Abnormal echo (N = 8) | P | P for trend |
| Age (years) | 34.0 (11.5) | 36.8 (14.6) | 42.7 (17.4) | 40.9 (8.6) | 0.02 | <0.01 |
| Gender (male) | 18 (41%) | 13 (34%) | 6 (43%) | 4 (50%) | 0.80 | NA |
| Smoking habit | 6 (14%) | 2 (6%) | 1 (7%) | 2 (25%) | 0.42 | NA |
| Hypercholesterolemia | 2 (5%) | 2 (6%) | 2 (14%) | 1 (13%) | 0.60 | NA |
| Systolic BP (mmHg) | 106±11 | 113±14 | 113±15 | 113±14 | 0.09 | 0.05 |
| Diastolic BP (mmHg) | 66±8 | 69±10 | 70±11 | 68±16 | 0.31 | 0.15 |
| Heart rate (bpm) | 60.0 (9.0) | 65.0 (10.0) | 60.0 (9.0) | 56.0 (23.0) | 0.31 | 0.94 |
| NYHA FC II | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (14%) | 3 (38%) | 0.01 | NA |
| Endothelin (pmol/L) | 6.8 (2.4) | 6.3 (3.2) | 6.0 (2.4) | 6.7 (5.0) | 0.35 | 0.66 |
| IL6 (pg/ml) | 1.7±3.2 | 11.3±28.3 | 0.0±0.0 | 22.2±54.0 | 0.09 | 0.12 |
| TNFα (pg/ml) | 3.0 (6.5) | 7.0 (5.8)* | 7.0 (4.0) | 9.5 (7.3) | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| BNP (pg/ml) | 10.3 (10.2) | 12.3 (17.1) | 15.3 (31.0) | 43.6 (190.0)* † | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| BNP>37 pg/ml | 0 (0%) | 4 (13%) | 4 (29%) | 5 (63%) | <0.01 | NA |
| ANP (pg/ml) | 23.8 (11.0) | 26.5 (15.0) | 28.0 (11.3)* | 54.0 (39.8)* † | <0.01 | <0.01 |
Continuous variables are expressed as mean ± standard deviation or median (interquartile range); categorical variables are expressed as number of patients (%).
BP: blood pressure; NYHA FC = New York Heart Association functional class; TNFα: tumour necrosis factor alpha; BNP: brain natriuretic peptide; ANP: atrial natriuretic peptide. NA: non applicable (categorical variables); P = p value between groups; P for trend: p value for a trend in continuous variable changes across Chagas's disease severity.
*Statistically significant differences versus group 0.
†: Statistically significant differences versus group 1.