Table 2.
Repeated measurements of the cytokine concentrations, overall and by sex, with estimated ICCs
| Cytokines (pg/ml) | First measurement | Second measurement | P difference* | ICC (95% CI) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Median (IQR) | N | Median (IQR) | ||||
| Interleukin-1beta | ALL | 79 | 3.12 (0.35–6.50) | 82 | 3.00 (0.39–5.45) | 0.89 | 0.25 (0.02, 0.44) |
| Men | 31 | 2.71 (0.35–4.42) | 30 | 3.27 (0.23–6.25) | 0.72 | 0.28 (−0.11, 0.57) | |
| Women | 48 | 3.47 (0.44–7.18) | 52 | 2.97 (0.53–5.18) | 0.92 | 0.23 (−0.07, 0.47) | |
| P difference** | 0.32 | 0.77 | |||||
| Interleukin-2 | ALL | 143 | 2.13 (0.21–6.47) | 131 | 1.77 (0.19–5.23) | 0.72 | 0.32 (0.16, 0.46) |
| Men | 59 | 2.32 (0.21–6.23) | 56 | 2.15 (0.21–4.66) | 0.93 | 0.26 (0.00, 0.48) | |
| Women | 84 | 1.67 (0.20–6.52) | 75 | 0.56 (0.19–6.37) | 0.62 | 0.36 (0.15, 0.54) | |
| P difference | 0.82 | 0.83 | |||||
| Interleukin-4 | ALL | 143 | 2.66 (1.53–5.75) | 152 | 2.75 (1.57–5.98) | 0.94 | −0.18 (−0.34, −0.02) |
| Men | 56 | 2.69 (1.52–6.02) | 60 | 2.70 (1.47–5.49) | 0.78 | −0.23 (−0.47, 0.02) | |
| Women | 87 | 2.63 (1.53–5.61) | 92 | 2.90 (1.65–6.15) | 0.64 | −0.15 (−0.35, 0.06) | |
| P difference | 0.92 | 0.78 | |||||
| Interleukin-6 | ALL | 207 | 0.52 (0.41–0.79) | 207 | 0.52 (0.40–0.71) | 0.06 | 0.60 (0.51, 0.68) |
| Men | 83 | 0.59 (0.44–0.82) | 83 | 0.60 (0.44–0.81) | 0.55 | 0.51 (0.34, 0.66) | |
| Women | 124 | 0.50 (0.37–0.76) | 124 | 0.47 (0.38–0.68) | 0.04 | 0.63 (0.51, 0.72) | |
| P difference | 0.02 | 0.001 | |||||
| Interleukin-8 | ALL | 207 | 3.91 (3.10–4.88) | 207 | 3.89 (2.99–5.02) | 0.32 | 0.64 (0.55, 0.71) |
| Men | 83 | 3.96 (3.19–4.96) | 83 | 4.19 (3.20–5.62) | 0.07 | 0.62 (0.47, 0.74) | |
| Women | 124 | 3.67 (3.03–4.73) | 124 | 3.62 (2.81–4.74) | 0.81 | 0.63 (0.51, 0.73) | |
| P difference | 0.14 | 0.004 | |||||
| Interleukin-10 | ALL | 207 | 0.25 (0.18–0.34) | 207 | 0.25 (0.18–0.34) | 0.76 | 0.58 (0.48, 0.66) |
| Men | 83 | 0.28 (0.19–0.36) | 83 | 0.26 (0.19–0.35) | 0.03 | 0.38 (0.18, 0.55) | |
| Women | 124 | 0.24 (0.17–0.31) | 124 | 0.24 (0.18–0.33) | 0.13 | 0.72 (0.63, 0.80) | |
| P difference | 0.02 | 0.35 | |||||
| Interleukin-12p70 | ALL | 194 | 0.30 (0.15–6.01) | 203 | 0.31 (0.16–6.01) | 0.98 | 0.35 (0.22, 0.47) |
| Men | 78 | 1.90 (0.13–6.69) | 81 | 1.06 (0.14–6.00) | 0.29 | 0.27 (0.05, 0.46) | |
| Women | 116 | 0.22 (0.15–5.32) | 122 | 0.27 (0.16–6.20) | 0.30 | 0.40 (0.24, 0.54) | |
| P difference | 0.31 | 0.87 | |||||
| Interleukin-13 | ALL | 167 | 0.67 (0.43–0.92) | 168 | 0.77 (0.52–1.04) | 0.01 | 0.43 (0.30, 0.55) |
| Men | 69 | 0.55 (0.41–0.76) | 67 | 0.63 (0.44–0.97) | 0.12 | 0.43 (0.21, 0.60) | |
| Women | 98 | 0.75 (0.49–0.20) | 101 | 0.83 (0.61–1.08) | 0.06 | 0.39 (0.21, 0.54) | |
| P difference | 0.01 | 0.01 | |||||
| Interferon-gamma | ALL | 207 | 3.06 (2.12–4.61) | 207 | 3.06 (2.18–4.21) | 0.43 | 0.40 (0.28, 0.51) |
| Men | 83 | 2.81 (2.09–4.29) | 83 | 2.82 (2.06–3.87) | 0.66 | 0.28 (0.07, 0.46) | |
| Women | 124 | 3.37 (2.16–4.86) | 124 | 3.26 (2.22–4.44) | 0.46 | 0.48 (0.33, 0.61) | |
| P difference | 0.28 | 0.14 | |||||
| Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha | ALL | 207 | 1.94 (1.56–2.39) | 207 | 1.96 (1.57–2.40) | 0.07 | 0.70 (0.63, 0.77) |
| Men | 83 | 2.04 (1.64–2.40) | 83 | 2.14 (1.60–2.50) | 0.44 | 0.77 (0.66, 0.84) | |
| Women | 124 | 1.87 (1.51–2.36) | 124 | 1.87 (1.56–2.33) | 0.10 | 0.65 (0.53, 0.74) | |
| P difference | 0.07 | 0.08 | |||||
*P value for difference based on Wilcoxon signed rank test between first and second measurements. **P value for difference based on Wilcoxon rank sum test between men and women (Kruskal Wallis) Abbreviations: ICC Intraclass correlation coefficient, IQR Interquartile range, CI Confidence interval