Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of study participants.
| Sub-cohort * (n=787) | Cases (n=230) | Quartiles of the ceramide score ‡ | P trend § | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||||
| Q1 (n=195) | Q2 (n=197) | Q3 (n=197) | Q4 (n=198) | ||||
| Intervention group, % | |||||||
| Control | 234 (29.7) | 83 (36.1) | 67 (34.4) | 63 (32.0) | 57 (28.9) | 47 (23.7) | 0.117 |
| Mediterranean diet + EVOO | 291 (37.0) | 82 (35.7) | 62 (31.8) | 71 (36.0) | 78 (39.6) | 80 (40.4) | |
| Mediterranean diet + Nuts | 262 (33.3) | 65 (28.3) | 66 (33.8) | 63 (32.0) | 62 (31.5) | 71 (35.9) | |
| Women, % | 450 (57.2) | 91 (39.6) | 93 (47.7) | 101 (51.3) | 132 (67.0) | 124 (62.6) | <.001 |
| Family history of premature CHD, % | 196 (24.9) | 44 (19.1) | 56 (28.7) | 56 (28.4) | 43 (21.8) | 41 (20.7) | 0.030 |
| Smoking, % | |||||||
| Never | 491 (62.4) | 104 (45.2) | 119 (61.0) | 107 (54.3) | 135 (68.5) | 130 (65.7) | 0.063 |
| Current | 96 (12.2) | 46 (20.0) | 22 (11.3) | 27 (13.7) | 24 (12.2) | 23 (11.6) | |
| Former | 200 (25.4) | 80 (34.8) | 54 (27.7) | 63 (32.0) | 38 (19.3) | 45 (22.7) | |
| Baseline prevalent disease, % | |||||||
| Hypertension | 659 (83.7) | 190 (82.6) | 161 (82.6) | 167 (84.8) | 159 (80.7) | 172 (86.9) | 0.423 |
| Dyslipidemia | 579 (73.6) | 134 (58.3) | 134 (68.7) | 145 (73.6) | 146 (74.1) | 154 (77.8) | 0.047 |
| Diabetes | 372 (47.3) | 149 (64.8) | 105 (53.8) | 81 (41.1) | 93 (47.2) | 93 (47.0) | 0.312 |
| Age (years) | 67.2±5.9 | 69.5±6.5 | 67.3±5.8 | 67.5±6.0 | 67.1±6.0 | 66.9±6.0 | 0.457 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 29.8±3.6 | 29.6±3.7 | 30.1±3.8 | 29.6±3.4 | 29.5±3.7 | 29.8±3.6 | 0.559 |
| Adherence to Mediterranean diet † | 8.8±1.9 | 8.4±1.8 | 8.9±2.0 | 9.0±1.7 | 8.5±2.0 | 8.8±1.8 | 0.202 |
| Fasting glucose (mg/dL) | 121.9±41.0 | 136.2±48.9 | 123.2±40.4 | 115.7±31.4 | 121.7±43.8 | 126.7±46.3 | 0.375 |
| Total cholesterol (mg/dl) | 210.3±37.1 | 212.1±35.7 | 186.6±32.4 | 201.7±30.7 | 215.9±30.7 | 236.2±35.4 | <.001 |
| HDL cholesterol (mg/dL) | 54.0±15.4 | 51.9±16.4 | 53.5±15.9 | 53.7±16.5 | 53.0±11.8 | 55.5±16.7 | 0.114 |
| LDL cholesterol (mg/dL) | 130.8±33.4 | 131.4±33.4 | 112.8±29.9 | 124.9±28.5 | 135.8±29.4 | 149.5±34.4 | <.001 |
| Triglyceride (mg/dL) | 135.0±79.3 | 151.5±83.4 | 114.6±81.9 | 122.7±56.9 | 133±55.0 | 168.6±102.2 | <.001 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 147.3±20.3 | 154.9±23.1 | 146.2±18.3 | 147.8±20.8 | 147.2±19.8 | 148.1±22.1 | 0.424 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 82.0±10.5 | 83.0±11.6 | 80.3±10.4 | 82.0±10.2 | 81.5±10.5 | 84.2±10.7 | <.001 |
Abbreviations: EVOO, extra-virgin olive oil; CHD, coronary heart disease; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein;
*
The sub-cohort also included 37 cases.
†
Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed by a 14-item dietary screener.
‡
Quartiles were calculated based on the distribution of the ceramide score (weighted sum of four ceramides) in the sub-cohort.
§
To quantify a linear trend, we assigned the median within each quartile and modeled this scored trend variable continuously; Wald test was used for calculating P for trend. Logistic model was used for categorical variable and general linear model was used for continuous variable.