Table 1. Characteristics of the study population.
| Variables | Total |
Men |
Women |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALP ≤ 69 | ALP ≥ 70 | P value | ALP ≤ 69 | ALP ≥ 70 | P value | ALP ≤ 71 | ALP ≥ 72 | P value | |
| N | 1898 | 578 | 1156 | 330 | 769 | 221 | |||
| Age (year) | 52.4 (9.5) | 55.0 (9.7) | < 0.001 | 52.9 (9.4) | 53.4 (11.0) | 0.462 | 51.8 (9.8) | 56.8 (7.2) | < 0.001 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 23.7 (3.1) | 24.0 (2.9) | 0.043 | 24.6 (2.8) | 24.4 (2.7) | 0.277 | 22.3 (2.9) | 23.4 (3.2) | < 0.001 |
| SBP (mmHg) | 123.6 (17.0) | 127.6 (17.6) | < 0.001 | 126.3 (15.9) | 128.8 (15.9) | 0.012 | 119.9 (17.9) | 122.5 (19.7) | < 0.001 |
| DBP (mmHg) | 76.8 (12.1) | 78.4 (10.1) | 0.001 | 79.0 (9.6) | 79.8 (9.5) | 0.211 | 73.6 (10.6) | 76.3 (10.8) | 0.001 |
| MAP (mmHg) | 92.4 (12.1) | 94.8 (12.1) | < 0.001 | 94.8 (11.1) | 96.1 (11.1) | 0.055 | 89.1 (12.7) | 92.7 (13.2) | < 0.001 |
| FPG (mmol/L) | 5.32 (1.00) | 5.50 (1.26) | 0.002 | 5.47 (1.04) | 5.60 (1.25) | 0.078 | 5.10 (0.91) | 5.35 (1.23) | 0.005 |
| Triglyceride (mmol/L) | 1.09 (0.79–1.59) | 1.17 (0.84–1.66) | 0.033 | 1.26 (0.92–1.83) | 1.25 (0.92–1.72) | 0.942 | 0.89 (0.68–1.25) | 1.02 (0.78–1.45) | 0.001 |
| HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L) | 1.32 (0.33) | 1.26 (0.30) | < 0.001 | 1.22 (0.28) | 1.17 (0.25) | < 0.001 | 1.47 (0.33) | 1.39 (0.33) | < 0.001 |
| AST (U/L) | 20 (17–24) | 21 (18–26) | < 0.001 | 21 (18–25) | 21 (18–26) | 0.314 | 19 (16–23) | 21 (18–27) | < 0.001 |
| ALT (U/L) | 20 (15–26) | 22 (17–30) | < 0.001 | 22 (17–29) | 23 (18–32) | 0.003 | 16 (12–21) | 20 (16–27) | < 0.001 |
| GGT (U/L) | 23 (15–35) | 26 (18–39) | < 0.001 | 29 (21–41) | 31 (22–44) | 0.078 | 15 (12–21) | 20 (14–31) | < 0.001 |
| Creatinine (µmol/L) | 85.76 (17.13) | 85.02 (17.03) | 0.361 | 95.26 (13.71) | 94.62 (14.52) | 0.462 | 70.92 (9.87) | 72.53 (10.69) | 0.037 |
| hsCRP (mg/L) | 0.70 (0.35–1.40) | 1.00 (0.50–2.10) | < 0.001 | 0.72 (0.40–1.48) | 1.07 (0.60–2.20) | < 0.001 | 0.50 (0.30–1.20) | 1.00 (0.50–2.10) | < 0.001 |
| Pulse wave velocity, cm/s | 1378 (223) | 1461 (283) | < 0.001 | 1400 (213) | 1444 (272) | 0.007 | 1352 (242) | 1472 (290) | < 0.001 |
| Current smoking (%) | 20.9 | 26.5 | < 0.001 | 30.5 | 40.9 | < 0.001 | 5.2 | 7.4 | 0.141 |
| Alcohol drinking (%)a | 37.2 | 36.3 | 0.685 | 50.3 | 52.9 | 0.436 | 16.3 | 13.8 | 0.382 |
| Regular exercise (%)b | 41.4 | 38.4 | 0.202 | 42.9 | 40.0 | 0.354 | 38.9 | 33.2 | 0.081 |
| Hypertension (%)c | 34.8 | 41.0 | 0.007 | 39.7 | 42.4 | 0.374 | 28.6 | 36.2 | 0.030 |
| Type 2 diabetes (%)d | 8.1 | 9.9 | 0.173 | 10.2 | 12.7 | 0.192 | 4.8 | 5.9 | 0.527 |
| Dyslipidemia (%)e | 31.0 | 34.9 | 0.077 | 29.4 | 26.4 | 0.280 | 34.3 | 45.3 | 0.030 |
| Chronic kidney diseasef(%) | 4.1 | 4.3 | 0.820 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 0.701 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 0.564 |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; MAP, mean arterial blood pressure; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; HDL, high density lipoprotein; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; GGT, γ-gutamyl transferase; hsCRP, high sensitivity C-reactive protein. Data are expressed as mean (SD), median (IQR), or percentage (%). P-values were calculated using independent two sample t-test, Wilcoxon-Rank sum test, or chi-square test.
Alcohol drinking ≥ twice/week.
Regular exercise ≥ three times/week.
Hypertension was defined as SBP ≥ 140 mmHg, DBP ≥ 90 mmHg, or current use of anti-hypertensive medication.
Type 2 diabetes was defined as FPG ≥ 7.0 mmol/L or current use of anti-diabetes medication.
Dyslipidemia was defined as triglyceride ≥ 1.70 mmol/L, low HDL cholesterol < 1.04 mmol/L or current use of dyslipidemia meidcations.
Chronic kidney disease was as defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate by MDRD equation < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2.