Table 1. Characteristics of the study participants.
| All | IFA-Positive | IFA-negative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 1,517 | (100%) | N = 513 | (33.8%) | N = 1,004 | (66.2%) | p-value | |
| Mean age, years 1 | 51.9 | (SD 16.5) | 51.6 | (SD 15.7) | 52.1 | (SD 16.9) | 0.58 |
| Gender 2 | 0.70 | ||||||
| Male | 752 | (49.6) | 258 | (50.3) | 494 | (50.8) | |
| Female | 765 | (50.4) | 255 | (49.7) | 510 | (49.2) | |
| Smoking 2 | 0.02 | ||||||
| Current | 276 | (18.3) | 110 | (21.4) | 166 | (16.6) | |
| Former | 570 | (37.7) | 194 | (37.8) | 376 | (37.6) | |
| Never | 666 | (44.0) | 209 | (40.8) | 457 | (45.8) | |
| Education level 2 , 3 | 0.25 | ||||||
| Low | 825 | (55.2) | 290 | (57.3) | 535 | (54.1) | |
| Average | 425 | (28.4) | 149 | (29.4) | 276 | (27.9) | |
| High | 245 | (16.4) | 67 | (13.2) | 178 | (18.0) | |
| All cardiovascular risk factors 4 | 93 | 22 | 71 | ||||
| One or more cardiovascular risk factors | 69 | 16 | 53 | ||||
| Aneurysm | 19 | (20.4) | 8 | (36.4) | 11 | (15.5) | |
| Aortic bifurcation prosthesis | 2 | (2.2) | 0 | (0.0) | 2 | (2.8) | |
| Stent graft | 40 | (43.0) | 6 | (27.3) | 34 | (47.9) | |
| Tube graft | 1 | (1.1) | 1 | (4.5) | 0 | (0.0) | |
| Bypass | 20 | (21.5) | 3 | (13.6) | 17 | (23.9) | |
| Heart valve surgery | 11 | (11.8) | 4 | (18.2) | 7 | (9.9) | |
1Independent sample t-test
2Pearson’s chi-square test. For the purpose of the analysis current smoking was compared with past and never smoked and for education level low was compared with average combined with high.
3Education level: low, ranging from no education to vocational training; average, ranging from secondary vocational education to preparatory academic training and high, higher professional and/or university education.
4The p-value was not calculated for this heterogeneous group