Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the case and control group and all the participants (from both study sites).
| Overall | Cyprus | Romania | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 212) | Cases (n = 106) | Controls (n = 106) | p-value | Total (n = 122) | Cases (n = 57) | Controls (n = 65) | p-value | Total (n = 90) | Cases (n = 49) | Controls (n = 41) | p-value | |
| Age (years)* | 49±13 | 52±12 | 47±13 | 0.002 | 51±12 | 53±12 | 49±12 | 0.114 | 47±13 | 51±11 | 42±14 | 0.001 |
| BMI (kg/m2)* | 26.1±5.5 | 27.4±6.1 | 24.8±4.5 | 0.001 | 25.4±4.6 | 25.9±4.9 | 25.0±4.2 | 0.303 | 27.0±6.5 | 29.1±6.9 | 24.4±4.9 | <0.001 |
| Smoking status | 0.691 | 0.858 | 0.677 | |||||||||
| Never | 157 (76) | 76 (74) | 81 (77) | 94 (77) | 43 (76) | 51 (79) | 63 (73) | 33 (72) | 30 (75) | |||
| Currently | 36 (17) | 18 (18) | 18 (17) | 17 (14) | 8 (14) | 9 (14) | 19 (22) | 10 (22) | 9 (23) | |||
| Past | 15 (7) | 9 (9) | 6 (6) | 11 (9) | 6 (11) | 5 (8) | 4 (5) | 3 (7) | 1 (3) | |||
| Alcohol consumption | 0.817 | 0.524 | 0.364 | |||||||||
| Never/Rarely | 175 (85) | 88 (86) | 87 (83) | 95 (78) | 47 (83) | 48 (74) | 80 (94) | 41 (91) | 39 (98) | |||
| Weekend | 25 (12) | 11 (11) | 14 (13) | 20 (16) | 7 (12) | 13 (20) | 5 (6) | 4 (9) | 1 (3) | |||
| Often | 7 (3) | 3 (3) | 4 (4) | 7 (6) | 3 (5) | 4 (6) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | |||
| Marital status | 0.017 | 0.177 | 0.033 | |||||||||
| Single | 25 (12) | 6 (6) | 19 (18) | 13 (11) | 4 (7) | 9 (14) | 12 (14) | 2 (4) | 10 (25) | |||
| Married | 157 (76) | 85 (83) | 72 (69) | 99 (81) | 49 (86) | 50 (77) | 58 (67) | 36 (78) | 22 (55) | |||
| Divorced | 13 (6) | 4 (4) | 9 (9) | 6 (5) | 1 (2) | 5 (8) | 7 (8) | 3 (7) | 4 (10) | |||
| Widow | 12 (6) | 7 (7) | 5 (5) | 4 (3) | 3 (5) | 1 (2) | 8 (9) | 4 (9) | 4 (10) | |||
| Education | 0.003 | 0.134 | 0.001 | |||||||||
| Elementary | 28 (14) | 21 (20) | 7 (7) | 16 (13) | 11 (19) | 5 (8) | 12 (14) | 10 (22) | 2 (5) | |||
| Secondary | 78 (38) | 40 (39) | 38 (37) | 43 (35) | 17 (30) | 26 (40) | 35 (41) | 23 (50) | 12 (31) | |||
| University | 99 (48) | 40 (39) | 59 (57) | 63 (52) | 29 (51) | 34 (52) | 36 (42) | 11 (24) | 25 (64) | |||
| TSH (mIU/L)** | 1.6 [1.1, 2.2] | 1.42 [0.90, 1.97] | 1.68 [1.18, 2.49] | 0.016 | 1.51 [1.06, 2.00] | 1.40 [0.90, 1.98] | 1.53 [1.08, 2] | 0.559 | 1.68 [1.05, 2.55] | 1.44 [0.83, 1.85] | 2.20 [1.28, 2.94] | 0.003 |
| fT4 (pmol/L)** | 13.4 [12.1, 14.9] | 13.40 [12.40, 14.90] | 13.43 [12.06, 14.90] | 0.748 | 12.70 [11.80, 14] | 12.90 [11.90, 13.95] | 12.60 [11.80, 14] | 0.606 | 14.71 [13.10, 16.10] | 14.60 [12.90, 15.70] | 14.80 [13.50, 16.10] | 0.598 |
| Spot iodine (μg/L)** | 108 [49, 186] | 106 [44, 158] | 111 [54, 190] | 0.32 | 94 [40, 190] | 82 [27, 166] | 103 [48, 190] | 0.254 | 118 [61, 183] | 116 [64, 153] | 128 [59, 189] | 0.583 |
| BPA (ng/L)** | 2258 [1100, 4611] | 1751 [1117, 3458] | 2710.50 [1081, 5912] | 0.016 | 1508 [789, 2806] | 1394 [757, 2189] | 1832 [792, 3004] | 0.333 | 3778 [2134, 9050] | 2453 [1495, 5173] | 8013 [3112, 19288] | <0.001 |
| BPF (ng/L)** | 465 [320, 720] | 463 [338, 680] | 480 [287, 788] | 0.703 | 485 [365, 680] | 457 [378, 634] | 510 [360, 761] | 0.54 | 416 [219, 822] | 492 [256, 822] | 371 [159, 1035] | 0.32 |
| ClxBPA (ng/L)** | 159 [147, 187] | 159 [144, 184] | 159 [148, 187] | 0.757 | 152 [141, 168] | 150 [140, 167] | 153 [144, 169] | 0.357 | 177 [158, 201] | 178 [158, 201] | 177 [161, 201] | 0.860 |
The normally (*) distributed and non-normally (**) distributed continuous variables are presented with the mean± SD or median[IQR], respectively. Categorical variables are presented with n(%). T-tests were used for the mean comparisons of the normally distributed continuous variables and Wilcoxon test for the non-normally distributed. Chi-square tests and Fisher’s exact test were used in the categorical variables (the latter when the categories included <5 subjects). Abbreviations: BPA: bisphenol A, BPF: bisphenol F; ClxBPA: sum of 3-chlorobisphenol A (ClBPA), 3,5-dichlorobisphenol A (3,5-Cl2BPA) and 3,3’-dichlorobispheno A (3,3’-Cl2BPA); BMI: body mass index; TSH: thyroid stimulating hormone; fT4: free thyroxine.