TABLE 1.
Baseline clinical characteristics of participants by treatment assignment
| Variable | N | No. (%) missing | PL (n = 36) | tE2 (n = 30) | oCEE (n = 29) | P |
| Age at randomization, ya | 95 | 0 | 52.7 (51.8, 54.3) | 53.3 (51.7, 54.3) | 53.8 (52.1, 54.8) | 0.561 |
| Smoking | 80 | 15 (15.8%) | 0.031 | |||
| Never | 25 (73.5%) | 13 (56.5%) | 16 (69.6%) | |||
| Past | 9 (26.5%) | 6 (26.1%) | 7 (30.4%) | |||
| Current | 0 (0.0%) | 4 (17.4%) | 0 (0.0%) | |||
| Menopausal age, mo (at randomization)a | 95 | 0 | 12.7 (10.0, 21.2) | 18.5 (14.1, 25.8) | 21.4 (10.1, 27.8) | 0.108 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2a | 95 | 0 | 25.7 (24.7, 30.6) | 26.8 (22.2, 30.2) | 28.4 (25.0, 32.2) | 0.330 |
| Waist circumferencea | 94 | 1 (1.1%) | 84.8 (76.0, 91.5) | 82.5 (72.0, 89.0) | 85.0 (77.8, 92.5) | 0.564 |
| MSBPa | 95 | 0 | 121.8 (114.5, 128.0) | 116.5 (110.5, 129.5) | 124.0 (112.5, 130.0) | 0.538 |
| MDBPa | 95 | 0 | 76.0 (70.0, 81.3) | 73.8 (66.5, 79.5) | 78.5 (71.5, 82.0) | 0.282 |
| TCa | 95 | 0 | 218.5 (199.5, 232.5) | 222.5 (209.0, 248.0) | 209.0 (193.0, 237.0) | 0.177 |
| HDLa | 95 | 0 | 59.5 (50.0, 66.0) | 61.0 (53.0, 71.0) | 58.0 (49.0, 63.0) | 0.371 |
| LDLa | 95 | 0 | 136.5 (117.5, 152.3) | 150.6 (123.8, 168.6) | 133.4 (120.4, 153.4) | 0.373 |
| Triga | 95 | 0 | 83.5 (65.0, 107.0) | 88.0 (67.0, 118.0) | 94.0 (59.0, 117.0) | 0.775 |
| hs-CRPa | 92 | 3 (3.2%) | 1.2 (0.5, 2.2) | 1.3 (0.4, 2.0) | 1.5 (0.8, 3.8) | 0.404 |
| Fasting Glucosea | 95 | 0 | 91.0 (87.5, 96.5) | 94.0 (87.0, 98.0) | 89.0 (82.0, 99.0) | 0.404 |
Baseline characteristics of these 95 participants, a subset of the 118 Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS) participants at the Mayo Clinic site for whom white matter hyperintensity (WMH) data were available, were published previously.12 Treatment groups differed with regard to smoking status (P = 0.031; four [17.4%] women in the tE2 were smokers at time of baseline, compared with none in the other groups), but were otherwise similar.
HDL, high-density lipoprotein; hs-CRP, high sensitivity-C-reactive protein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; MDBP, mean diastolic blood pressure; MSBP, mean systolic blood pressure; oCEE, oral conjugated equine estrogen; PL, placebo; TC, total cholesterol; tE2, transdermal 17β estradiol; Trig, triglycerides.
aMedian (25th, 75th percentiles); Kruskal-Wallis test.