Table 1.
Socio-demographic characteristics and anthropometric measures of the entire population of subjects with obesity enrolled in the study
| Total | HF | LF | Sham | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients, n (%) | 63 | 31 (49.2%) | 13 (20.6%) | 19 (30.2%) | 0.0183* |
| Gender | |||||
| Female, n (%) | 48 (76.2%) | 23 (74.2%) | 10 (76.9%) | 15 (78.9%) | 0.0681 |
| Male, n (%) | 15 (23.8%) | 8 (25.8%) | 3 (29.1%) | 4 (21.1%) | 0.2466 |
| Body weight (kg) | |||||
| Mean ± SD | 97.9 ± 14.8 | 97.7 ± 16.4 | 98.6 ± 17.3 | 97.9 ± 10.4 | 0.9832 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | |||||
| Mean ± SD | 36.3 ± 4.4 | 35.8 ± 4.8 | 36.8 ± 5.3 | 36.6 ± 3.2 | 0.7361 |
| Age (years) | |||||
| Mean ± SD | 48.3 ± 10.4 | 46.9 ± 10.3 | 49 ± 11.2 | 49.9 ± 10.3 | 0.5885 |
| Age (years) | |||||
| Median (Q1, Q3) | 48 (42, 57) | 48 (41, 55) | 47 (44.5, 57.5) | 52 (41, 58) | – |
| Age (years) | |||||
| Range (Min, Max) | 46 (22, 68) | 38 (26, 64) | 43 (22, 65) | 36 (32, 68) | – |
| Age | |||||
| 20–30 years, n (%) | 5 (7.9%) | 4 (12.9%) | 1 (7.6%) | 0 (0.0%) | – |
| 30–50 years, n (%) | 28 (44.5%) | 14 (45.2%) | 6 (46.2%) | 8 (42.1%) | 0.1561 |
| >50 years, n (%) | 30 (47.6%) | 13 (41.9%) | 6 (46.2%) | 11 (57.9%) | 0.2725 |
| Education | |||||
| PE, n (%) | 12 (19.0%) | 3 (9.7%) | 6 (46.1%) | 3 (15.8%) | 0.4724 |
| HS, n (%) | 35 (55.6%) | 18 (58.1%) | 5 (38.5%) | 12 (63.1%) | 0.0266* |
| UD, n (%) | 16 (25.4%) | 10 (32.2%) | 2 (15.4%) | 4 (21.1%) | 0.0388* |
Data are expressed as mean ± SD, percentage (%) or median (Q1–Q3). Comparisons between the three subgroups of the treatment (HF, LF, and Sham) have been performed by ANOVA-one-way test for body weight, BMI, and age and by Chi-square test for gender, ranges of age, and ranges of education. The Chi-square test has not been applied in 20–30 years range of age due to the absence of cases in the Sham group
HF high frequency, LF low frequency, SD standard deviation, BMI body mass index, PE primary education, HS high school, UD university degree
*p < 0.05