Table 4.
Comparison of VEGF parameters between experimental subgroups and a control group.
| Parameter | Group | p level | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lSSc (n = 17) | dSSc (n = 8) | Control (n = 25) | ||
| Serum VEGF (pg/ml) (mean ± SD) | 384.76 (467.19) | 269.30 (218.03) | 197.737 (155.04) | 0.7348 |
| Serum sVEGFR-2 (pg/ml) (mean ± SD) | 10073.03 (3014.4329) | 10405.94 (1052.3658) | 9110.125 (2858.61) | 0.2474 |
| Serum VEGF/sVEGFR-2 (mean ± SD) | 0.1032 (0.2898) | 0.0260 (0.0226) | 0.0350 (0.0752) | 0.9515 |
| VEGF in tears (pg/ml) (mean ± SD) | 382.86 (672.46) | 87.06 (109.45) | 352.135 (135.25) | <0.001a |
| sVEGFR-2 in tears (pg/ml) (mean ± SD) | 72.68 (61.71) | 119.30 (83.35) | 8274.653 (11033.51) | <0.001b |
| VEGF/sVEGFR-2 in tears (mean ± SD) | 1.1906 (0.5792) | 1.0344 (0.9953) | 0.2391 (0.3418) | <0.001c |
a,bSignificantly lower values of tears VEGF parameters in the lSSc and dSSc subgroups in comparison to a control group according to post hoc analysis of the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by ranks. cSignificantly higher coefficient of tears VEGF parameters in the lSSc subgroup in comparison to a control group according to post hoc analysis of the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by ranks. Abbreviations: VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor; sVEGFR-2: soluble form of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2; lSSc: limited systemic sclerosis; dSSc: diffuse systemic sclerosis; SD: standard deviation.