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. 2019 Sep 26;23(10):949–957. doi: 10.1007/s12603-019-1260-4

Table 2.

Participant characteristics by sexa

Variable Males Females
Participant demographics
Age (years) 70 (5) 70 (5)
Sex [n (%)] 61 (37) 102 (63)
Race [n (%)] *
African American 6 (10) 33 (32)
Caucasian American 55 (90) 69 (68)
Medications
Participants on medications [n (%)]
Hypertension 54 (88.5) 91 (89.2)
Hyperlipidemia 42 (68.9) 71 (69.6)
Diabetes 15 (24.6) 19 (18.6)
Body weight and composition
Weight (kg) 105.6 (12.0) 88.3 (11.0) ***
BMI (kg/m2) 33.7 (3.2) 33.6 (3.0)
DXA measuresb
Total fat mass (kg) 40.6 (7.7) 42.0 (7.0)
Total fat mass (%) 38.7 (4.3) 48.2 (3.6)
Total fat free mass (kg) 63.9 (6.7) 44.9 (5.3) ***
Total fat free mass (%) 61.3 (4.3) 51.8 (3.6) ***
Total fat free mass (%) 61.3 (4.3) 51.8 (3.6) ***
Total arm lean mass (kg) 7.6 (1.1) 4.7 (0.8) ***
MRI measures
Thigh skeletal muscle [tSM] (cm3)c 422.4 (56.8) 287.5 (42.3) ***
Inflammatory markers
TNFα (pg/mL)d 5.2 (1.8) 5.0 (1.9)
IL-6 (pg/mL)e 3.0 (3.9) 2.8 (2.2)
hs-CRP (mg/L)f 2.7 (2.2) 3.7 (2.2) **
Physical function and strength
Hand grip strength (kg)d 44.5 (7.5) 26.9 (5.2) ***
Isometric knee extension strength (kg)g 95.2 (34.5) 57.8 (22.4) ***
Chair sit and reach [CSR] (cm)d, h −7.4 (11.7) −0.8 (8.7) ***
Six- minute walk test [6MWT]: distance (m)d 505 (73) 433 (76) ***
SPPB- summary performance scorei 10.2 (1.2) 10.0 (1.5)
SPPB- Balance score 3.9 (0.5) 3.8 (0.7)
SPPB- Repeated chair stands score 2.4 (1.0) 2.3 (1.2)
SPPB- Gait speed score 4.0 (0.2) 3.9 (0.4)
Gait speed (m/s) 1.10 (0.21) 1.03 (0.18) *
MVPA (min/day)j 18.3 (14.4) 7.2 (8.2) ***

Note: DXA, Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry; MRI, Magnetic resonance imaging; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor-α; IL-6, interleukin-6; hs-CRP, high sensitivity C-reactive protein; SPPB, Short physical performance battery score; MVPA, Moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity; The following variables were logarithmically transformed to attain normality before analyses: age, BMI, TNFα, IL-6, hs-CRP, CSR, knee extension strength and MVPA. Untransformed values are presented to facilitate interpretation; a. Differences between males and females by independent samples t-test (continuous variables) or χ2 tests (categorical variables). Data are unadjusted mean (SD), unless otherwise stated; b. Total analyzed n=161 (males: 61, females: 100) for total fat, fat free and arm lean mass; no DXA data was available for two females; c. Total analyzed n=155 (males: 57, females: 98) for thigh skeletal muscle (tSM); no thigh MRI images were available for four males and four females; d. Total analyzed n=162 (males: 61, females: 101) for TNFα, hand grip strength, 6MWT and CSR; the data was not available for one female; e Total analyzed n=161 (males: 61, females:100) for IL-6; the data was not available for two females; f. Total analyzed n=142 (males: 59, females: 83) for hs-CRP; 19 participants (males: two, females: 17) with CRP >10 mg/L were excluded from these analyses and the data was not available for two females; g. Total analyzed n=161 (males: 60, females:101) for knee extension strength; the data were not available for one female and one male; h. Lower score represents a poorer performance on the chair sit and reach test; i. Total analyzed n=154 (males: 58, females: 96) for SPPB; three males and six females that did not complete all three components of the SPPB were excluded from analyses; j. Total analyzed n=143 (males: 53, females: 90) for accelerometry data; ; the data were not available for three males and eight females; data from nine participants (males: five, females: four) that did not meet the validity criteria were excluded from these analyses; * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001, significantly different between males and females.