Table 2.
Patient Characteristics
| Characteristic | Identification Cohort (Array) | Validation Cohort (qPCR) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eAAA | rAAA | P Value | iAAA | lAAA | P Value | eAAA | rAAA | P Value | |
| N | 31 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 46 | 18 | |||
| Age, y | 69.5±7.2 | 73.5±11.3 | ns | 67.7±7.4 | 72.3±9.2 | ns | 68.9±7.1 | 73.4±11.9 | 0.0296 |
| Male sex | 97% | 77% | 0.0467 | 93% | 88% | ns | 96% | 78% | 0.0477 |
| BMI | 27.2±3.3 | 26.1±4.6 | ns | 28.3±3.3 | 26.4±3.8 | ns | 27.9±4.2 | 26.2±4.4 | ns |
| Diameter, mm | 62.3±12.1 | 77.0±14.7 | 0.0002 | 54.1±1.8 | 84.1±12.6 | <0.0001 | 62.7±13.3 | 79.8±16.0 | <0.0001 |
| CAD | 58.1% | 41.2% | ns | 46.7% | 43.8% | ns | 52.2% | 44.4% | ns |
| Hypertension | 93.5% | 88.2% | ns | 86.7% | 93.8% | ns | 93.5% | 94.4% | ns |
| Diabetes mellitus | 32.3% | 23.5% | ns | 26.7% | 31.3% | ns | 37.0% | 22.2% | ns |
| Dyslipidemia | 77.4% | 82.3% | ns | 86.7% | 81.3% | ns | 76.1% | 82.4% | ns |
| (Ever) smoking | 58.1% | 58.8% | ns | 33.3% | 68.8% | ns | 66.7% | 70.6% | ns |
For patients with AAA, risk factors were recorded. Dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus were defined by a history of diagnosis or treatment of hyperlipidemia, hypertension, or diabetes mellitus. Coronary artery disease (CAD) was defined by a history of myocardial infarction, angina, or treatment. Smoking was defined by history as past or current (ever) smoker, and never smoker. Maximum infrarenal aortic diameter was assessed in patients with AAA from axial computed tomography angiography images or duplex sonography. Maximum AAA diameter was recorded in millimeters. Nominal variables are presented as percentages; continuous variables are presented as mean±standard deviation. Continuous variables were compared using the Mann‐Whitney U test; nominal variables were compared using the Fisher exact test. Associations of expression levels and variables listed were tested using the Spearman rank correlation. The P‐value was corrected for multiple testing using the Bonferroni correction. No significant correlations (P<0.05) were identified for age, sex, BMI, CAD, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and smoking. Thus, gene expression levels were not adjusted for these phenotypes. Correlation of gene expression level and diameter of aneurysms was expected due to the experimental design. AAA indicates abdominal aortic aneurysm; BMI, body mass index; eAAA, stable—treated electively—abdominal aortic aneurysm; iAAA, intermediate size (≤55 mm) abdominal aortic aneurysm; lAAA, large size (>70 mm) abdominal aortic aneurysm); ns, not significant; qPCR, quantitative polymerase chain reaction; rAAA, ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.