Table 1.
Study population characteristics
| Cases | Controls | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| BLITZ population | |||
| Sex (m/f) | 38/19 | 1,978/2,521 | |
| Mean age ± SD | 67 ± 7 | 62 ± 7 | |
| Smoking (never/ever) | 25/32 | 2,313/2,175/11a | |
| Stage (Tis/I/II/III/IV) | 4/19/6/19/3/6a | — | |
| Screening setting (plate A) | |||
| Study | BLITZ | BLITZ | |
| Sex (m/f) | 30/16 | 29/17 | |
| Mean age ± SD | 67 ± 7 | 67 ± 7 | |
| Smoking (never/ever) | 21/25 | 25/21 | |
| Stage (Tis/I/II/III/IV) | 2/15/5/16/3/6a | — | |
| Cell proportions | |Δ| | ||
| Granulocytes | 54.9 ± 12.8 | 48.7 ± 14.9 | 6.2 |
| Monocytes | 7.2 ± 1.9 | 7.6 ± 2.8 | 0.4 |
| Natural killer cells | 11.7 ± 5.2 | 13.3 ± 5.8 | 1.7 |
| CD8+ T cells | 3.5 ± 4.1 | 4.4 ± 3.8 | 0.9 |
| CD4+ T cells | 16.7 ± 7.7 | 19.1 ± 9.5 | 2.3 |
| B lymphocytes | 5.9 ± 2.8 | 6.8 ± 3.9 | 0.9 |
| (Difference in mean LC is not significant, p-value 0.29)c | |||
| Clinical setting (plates B and C) | |||
| Study | DACHS+ | BLITZ | |
| Sex (m/f) | 57/36 | 57/37 | |
| Mean age ± SD | 65 ± 8 | 65 ± 8 | |
| Smoking (never/ever) | 43/50 | 47/47 | |
| Stage (Tis/I/II/III/IV) | 4/28/41/29/22/1a | — | |
| Neoadj. therapy (none/rad./chemo./comb.)b | 60/12/2/19 | — | |
| Cell proportions | |Δ| | ||
| Granulocytes | 64.9 ± 12.8 | 52.3 ± 12.6 | 12.6 |
| Monocytes | 9.3 ± 3.8 | 7.8 ± 2.7 | 1.5 |
| Natural killer cells | 7.2 ± 4.3 | 11.1 ± 5.2 | 3.9 |
| CD8+ T cells | 2.0 ± 2.9 | 3.5 ± 3.9 | 1.5 |
| CD4+ T cells | 12.6 ± 7.1 | 19.4 ± 7.8 | 6.9 |
| B lymphocytes | 4.0 ± 2.6 | 5.9 ± 2.9 | 1.9 |
| (Difference in mean LC is significant, p-value 3.9 × 10−11)c | |||
Study population characteristics stratified by plate. Subjects who smoked regularly more than 1 year of their life were defined as ever smokers. |Δ| gives the absolute difference in average leukocyte proportions between cases and controls
aMissing values
bNeoadjuvant therapy (none/radiation/chemotherapy/combination of radiation and chemotherapy)
cAs cell proportions are compositional data, differences between cases and controls should not be tested for individual cell types, but for the composition as a whole. The isometric log-ratio transformation was applied and differences were tested using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) as described in [25]