Table 1.
Comparison of patient clinical characteristics (MEL vs. control and LI vs. control) (N = 1935)
| Variable | aControl (n = 508) | MEL (n = 1031) | LI (n = 396) | Overall bP value | Control versus MEL bP value | Control versus LI bP value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex, N (%) | < 0.0001 | 0.0006 | < 0.0001 | |||
| Female | 304 (60%) | 516 (50%) | 143 (36%) | |||
| Male | 204 (40%) | 515 (50%) | 253 (64%) | |||
| Age, years, mean (SD) | 61.7 (17.7) | 65.1 (15.7) | 63.4 (15.9) | 0.0006 | 0.0010 | 0.4270 |
| Race/ethnicity, N (%) | 0.0319 | 1.000 | 0.0260 | |||
| Black | 278 (56%) | 569 (58%) | 238 (64%) | |||
| White | 178 (36%) | 341 (35%) | 106 (29%) | |||
| Asian | 8 (2%) | 16 (2%) | 15 (4%) | |||
| Hispanic | 2 (0%) | 4 (0%) | 1 (0%) | |||
| Other | 28 (6%) | 50 (5%) | 13 (3%) | |||
| BMI, kg/m2, mean (SD) | 31.6 (9.2) | 31.6 (8.5) | 31.7 (8.6) | 0.9796 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
| Comorbidities, N (%) | ||||||
| Diabetes | 206 (41%) | 387 (38%) | 153 (39%) | 0.5202 | 0.5062 | 1.000 |
| Sleep apnea | 53 (10%) | 105 (10%) | 35 (9%) | 0.6896 | 1.000 | 0.8446 |
| Hypertension | 333 (66%) | 711 (69%) | 271 (68%) | 0.3926 | 0.3558 | 0.7220 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 146 (29%) | 288 (28%) | 125 (31%) | 0.4030 | 1.000 | 0.7152 |
| Malignancy | 32 (6%) | 73 (7%) | 37 (9%) | 0.1984 | 1.000 | 0.1744 |
| Chronic liver disease | 14 (3%) | 41 (4%) | 11 (3%) | 0.3443 | 0.4502 | 1.000 |
| CRP mg/dL (peak), mean (SD) | 9.5 (7.8) | 13.7 (8.9) | 18.5 (10.7) | < 0.0001 | < 0.0001 | < 0.0001 |
| Ferritin ng/mL (peak), mean (SD) | 586.1 (782.3) | 1144.9 (1855.9) | 3388.7 (7501.1) | < 0.0001 | 0.0352 | < 0.0001 |
BMI, body mass index; CRP, C-reactive protein; LI, liver injury; MEL, mild elevation in liver enzymes; SD, standard deviation
aControl patients had all liver enzymes within reference range
bP values reported using one-way analysis of variance test for age and BMI and Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test for other patient characteristics