Table 1. Characteristics of the entire cohort and according to low, mid-range and high B12.
| Parameters | Enthire cohort n=3316* | 1° quartile B12 (< 259 pmol/L) n=834* | Mid-range B12 (260-472 pmol/L) n=1650* | 4° quartile B12 (>473 pmol/L) n=828* | p-Value mid-range vs 1° quartile | p-Value mid-range vs 4° quartile |
| Sex (M, %) | 69.5 | 70.7 | 70.8 | 65.9 | 0.646 | 0.008 |
| Age (years) | 63.5 (48.1-75.6) | 65.3 (48.7-77.1) | 62.9 (47.9-74.9) | 62.8 (47.4-75.3) | <0.001 | 0.990 |
| Death (%) | 30.0 | 29.9 | 27.3 | 32.2 | 0.006 | 0.013 |
| Cardiac causes (%) | 57 | 54 | 58 | 60 | 0.286 | 0.045 |
| Fatal stroke (%) | 6 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 0.025 | 0.281 |
| Fatal infection (%) | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0.873 | 0.281 |
| Fatal cancer (%) | 15 | 15 | 17 | 9 | 0.784 | 0.037 |
| Other causes (%) | 14 | 15 | 12 | 16 | 0.077 | 0.054 |
| Diabetes mellitus (%) | 39.8 | 38.6 | 38.9 | 42.8 | 0.706 | 0.075 |
| CAD (%) | 77.8 | 79.7 | 77.1 | 77.1 | 0.322 | 0.848 |
| Previous MI (%) | 41.2 | 40.4 | 41.5 | 41.5 | 0.503 | 0.822 |
| Previous stroke (%) | 9.1 | 11.2 | 7.8 | 6.9 | 0.007 | 0.133 |
| PVD (%) | 9.6 | 11.7 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 0.036 | 0.900 |
| Acute Infection (%) | 9.6 | 7.6 | 9.9 | 10.8 | 0.044 | 0.511 |
| SBP (mmHg) | 140 (111-173) | 142 (112-173) | 141 (112-173) | 138 (109-172) | 0.007 | 0.024 |
| DBP (mmHg) | 81 (66-96) | 80 (67-97) | 81 (67-97) | 80 (65-95) | 0.003 | 0.001 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 27.1 (22.9-32.7) | 27.2 (22.8-33.2) | 27.2 (22.9-32.9) | 26.8 (22.6-32.4) | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| ACE-inhibitors (%) | 53.3 | 13.5 | 25.9 | 13.9 | 0.387 | 0.094 |
| Any lipid lowering therapy (%) | 48.4 | 11.9 | 24.5 | 12 | 0.325 | 0.591 |
| CSE inhibitors (statins) (%) | 46.9 | 11.5 | 23.8 | 11.5 | 0.275 | 0.412 |
| Non-statin lipid-lowering drugs (%) | 2.4 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.955 | 0.414 |
| Aspirin/other antiplatelet agents (%) | 71.4 | 18.2 | 35.7 | 17.4 | 0.849 | 0.297 |
| Beta blockers (%) | 63.3 | 15.7 | 32 | 15.5 | 0.419 | 0.265 |
| Vitamin K antagonists (%) | 6.7 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 0.638 | 0.414 |
| Diuretics (%) | 28.6 | 6.8 | 13.8 | 8 | 0.658 | 0.026 |
| Thyroid therapy (%) | 10.1 | 2.5 | 5.1 | 2.6 | 0.785 | 0.948 |
| Vitamin supplementation (%) | 2.4 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.525 | 0.052 |
| Hemoglobin (g/dL) | 13.9 (11.9-15.6) | 13.7 (11.7-15.5) | 14.0 (12.2-15.7) | 13.8 (11.7-15.7) | <0.001 | 0.004 |
| HbA1c (%) | 6.0 (5.2-7.9) | 6.0 (5.2-7.4) | 6.0 (5.3-7.9) | 6.1 (5.2-8.2) | 0.014 | 0.143 |
| LDL cholesterol (mg/dL) | 114 (75-159) | 116 (76-159) | 115 (76-160) | 112 (74-157) | 0.167 | 0.082 |
| HDL cholesterol (mg/dL) | 37 (26-53) | 37 (26-54) | 38 (27-53) | 37 (26-53) | 0.307 | 0.279 |
| TSH (mU/L) | 1.24 (0.38-2.86) | 1.21 (0.4-2.94) | 1.21 (0.36-2.75) | 1.33 (0.4-3.06) | 0.747 | 0.003 |
| B12 (pmol/L) | 344 (197-633) | 210 (145-250) | 344 (278-435) | 589 (489-945) | - | - |
| Vitamin B6 (μg/L) | 8.9 (3.5-22.1) | 7.4 (3.1-17.1) | 9.2 (3.5-20.6) | 10.1 (3.78-29.7) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Folate (μg/L) | 7.9 (4.7-12.1) | 7.0 (4.3-11.2) | 7.8 (4.8-11.9) | 9 (5.1-13.2) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| HCY (μmol/L) | 12.4 (8.1-19.8) | 13.8 (8.8-22.97) | 12.1 (8.3-18.7) | 11.3 (7.3-18.9) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| RTL | 1.7881 (0.4651-4.9341) | 1.8723 (0.4798-5.1521) | 1.7048 (0.4321-4.9260) | 1.9474 (0.5287-4.8783) | 0.088 | 0.008 |
| Age-corrected RTL | 0.0280 (0.0070-0.0865) | 0.0289 (0.0073-0.0848) | 0.0267 (0.0063-0.870) | 0.0315 (0.0086-0.00870) | 0.337 | 0.009 |
| hsCRP (mg/L) | 3.39 (0.66-21.80) | 3.34 (1.21-11.14) | 2.97 (0.67-19.30) | 3.91 (0.74-23.40) | 0.001 | <0.001 |
| IL-6 (pg/mL) | 3.20 (1.17-11.19) | 3.67 (0.62-26.75) | 3.04 (1.17-10.83) | 3.33 (1.14-12.58) | 0.033 | 0.017 |
CAD: coronary artery disease, MI: myocardial infarction, PVD: peripheral vascular disease, SBP: systolic blood pressure, DBP: diastolic blood pressure, BMI: body mass index, ACE: angiotensin converting enzyme, CSE: cholesterol synthesis enzyme, HbA1c: glycated hemoglobin, LDL: low density lipoprotein, HDL: high density lipoprotein, TSH: thyroid stimulating hormone, RTL: relative telomere length, hsCRP: high sensitive C-reactive protein, IL-6: interleukin 6.
*The entire cohort is composed by 3316 subjects. B12 was analyzed in 3312. The number of subjects of each quartile refers to those with a measurement of B12.
Statistically significant differences are reported in bold.