Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of DCM patients and control individuals

Characteristics	HC N = 30	HF N = 30	DCM N = 30
Age (years)	41.9 ± 6.4	43.6 ± 7.2	40.2 ± 6.1
Male/female (n)	19/11	20/10	19/11
Heart rate (beats/min)	70.9 ± 9.5**	83.6 ± 7.7	85.6 ± 8.6
Functional class (NYHA)
I	30	0	0
II	0	3	4
III	0	19	20
IV	0	8	6
LVEF (%)	63.1 ± 6.0**	37.4 ± 10.5	36.2 ± 10.1
LVEDD (mm)	45.3 ± 7.1**	59.8 ± 13.1	61.6 ± 11.7
LVESD (mm)	34.5 ± 7.3**	52.7 ± 11.8	53.1 ± 10.5
BNP (pg/ml)	54.7 ± 18.2**	2362.9 ± 2234.3	2686.5 ± 2164.7

DCM, dilated cardiomyopathy group; HF, heart failure control group; HC, healthy control group; NYHA, New York Heart Association; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; LVEDD, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter; LVESD, left ventricular end-systolic diameter; BNP, brain natriuretic peptide. Class I: no cardiac symptoms even with activity; Class II: cardiac symptoms lead to some difficulties with usual activity; Class III: cardiac symptoms make patient unable to perform usual physical activity; Class IV: cardiac symptoms present even at rest. Data expressed as mean ± SD;

^** P < 0.01.