Table 2.

Inflammatory markers and clinical biochemistry in winter and summer.

Characteristic	Winter	Summer	P value	Direction & degree of change (%)
Inflammatory markers
CRP (mg/L)	1.00 (1.65)	0.75 (1.33)	0.565	↓ 25
MCP-1 (pg/mL)	190.48 (135.80)	133.78 (58.62)	<0.001	↓ 30
TNF-α (pg/mL)	11.72 (4.12)	3.31 (2.13)	<0.001	↓ 71
IL-6 (pg/mL)	2.39 (1.99)	0.66 (0.80)	<0.001	↓ 72
IL-8 (pg/mL)	9.29 (4.47)	2.04 (1.70)	<0.001	↓ 78
IL-10 (pg/mL)	21.96 (21.22)	3.73 (6.54)	<0.001	↓ 83
IL-12 (pg/mL)	8.46 (5.26)	1.84 (2.17)	<0.001	↓ 78
Clinical biochemistry
FBG (mmol/L)	5.20 (0.63)	4.50 (1)	<0.001	↓ 13
Insulin (uU/mL)	4.75 (3.65)	4.95 (3.5)	0.552	↑ 4
QUICKI	0.38 (0.04)	0.40 (0.06)	0.028	↑ 5
McA	9.17 (2.33)	9.83 (3.64)	0.019	↑ 7
TG (mmol/L)	0.88 (0.77)	0.80 (0.51)	0.015	↓ 9
TC (mmol/L)	4.96 (1.58)	4.20 (1.87)	<0.001	↓ 15
LDL (mmol/L)	2.82 (1.58)	2.58 (1.44)	<0.001	↓ 9
HDL (mmol/L)	1.49 (0.57)	1.26 (0.33)	<0.001	↓ 15

Data are presented as median (IQR).

P value determined by Wilcoxon non-parametric tests.

CRP, C reactive protein; FBG, fasting blood glucose; IL, interleukin; HDL, high density lipoprotein cholesterol.; LDL, low density lipoprotein cholesterol; McA, McAuleys index of insulin sensitivity; MCP, macrophage chemoattractant protein; QUICKI, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; TNF-α, tumour necrosis factor alpha.

↓, decrease in summer compared to winter; ↑, increase in summer compared to winter