Table 2.

Associations between selected phosphatidylcholine or sphingomyelin ratios and premature coronary heart disease (CHD) status adjusted for metabolic syndrome (MetS) status, parameters of MetS or cardiovascular risk factors.

Adjusted for		Phosphatidylcholines						Sphingomyelins
		16:0/18:2 to 18:0/20:3		18:0/18:2 to 18:0/20:3		16:0/18:2 to 18:0/20:4		36:2 to 34:1		36:2 to 42:3
		HDL2 4	HDL3 4	HDL2 4	HDL3 4	HDL2 5	HDL3 5	HDL2 4	HDL3 4	HDL2 5	HDL3 4
MetS	β1	−1.06 3	−0.79 2	−0.91 3	−0.67 1	−1.01 3	−0.80 2	0.91 2	0.66 1	0.74 3	0.37
	CI	−1.53–−0.59	−1.30–−0.28	−1.37–−0.46	−1.19–−0.15	−1.52–−0.51	−1.32–−0.27	0.40–1.43	0.14–1.17	0.34–1.15	−0.20 –0.94
	β2	−0.21	−0.30	−0.46	−0.50	0.28	0.18	0.13	0.32	0.72 3	0.40
	CI	−0.73–0.30	−0.83 –0.23	−0.96–0.03	−1.06–0.06	−0.31–0.88	−0.36–0.73	−0.33–0.58	−0.21–0.84	0.33–1.11	−0.15–0.95
HDL-C 4	β1	−0.83 2	−0.49	−0.63 2	−0.35	−1.17 3	−0.70 1	0.84 2	0.36	0.68 1	0.38
	CI	−1.31–−0.35	−1.03–−0.04	−1.06–−0.20	−0.90–0.20	−1.77–−0.58	−1.25–−0.15	0.24–1.43	−0.20–0.91	0.11–1.25	−0.24–1.01
TG 5	β1	−1.05 3	−0.79 2	−0.93 3	−0.68 2	−1.01 3	−0.77 2	0.90 2	0.66 1	0.80 3	0.42
	CI	−1.53–−0.58	−1.29–−0.29	−1.39–−0.46	−1.20–−0.17	−1.47–−0.54	−1.27–−0.27	0.37–1.42	0.15–1.18	0.36–1.23	−0.18–1.01
VLDL-TG 5	β1	−1.02 3	−0.75 2	−0.88 3	−0.63 1	−1.03 3	−0.77 2	0.88 2	0.63 1	0.77 2	0.40
	CI	−1.48–−0.55	−1.26–−0.24	−1.34–−0.42	−1.15–−0.11	−1.50–−0.56	−1.27–−0.27	0.34–1.41	0.11–1.15	0.30–1.24	−0.21–1.01
VLDL protein 5	β1	−1.00 3	−0.74 2	−0.86 3	−0.63 1	−1.03 3	−0.75 2	0.86 2	0.63 1	0.77 2	0.39
	CI	−1.46–−0.55	−1.22–−0.25	−1.30–−0.43	−1.11–−0.14	−1.51–−0.55	−1.25–−0.25	0.34–1.38	0.12–1.13	0.32–1.22	−0.20–0.97
Adipon. 4	β1	−0.96 3	−0.71 2	−0.86 2	−0.60 1	−1.00 3	−0.74 2	0.90 2	0.61 1	0.82 2	0.44
	CI	−1.42–−0.50	−1.23–−0.19	−1.35–−0.37	−1.13–−0.06	−1.47–−0.53	−1.24–−0.25	0.32–1.48	0.08–1.14	0.24–1.40	−0.16–1.03
HMW adipon. 4	β1	−0.97 3	−0.66 1	−0.87 3	−0.62 1	−0.98 3	−0.70 2	0.86 2	0.75 2	0.82 2	0.48
	CI	−1.44–−0.51	−1.17–−0.15	−1.35–−0.39	−1.14–−0.10	−1.47–−0.48	−1.22–−0.18	0.31–1.42	0.24–1.25	0.28–1.35	−0.11–1.06
Waist 5	β1	−0.97 3	−0.73 2	−0.83 3	−0.58 1	−0.94 3	−0.77 2	0.88 3	0.66 1	0.59 2	0.37
	CI	−1.41–−0.52	−1.22–−0.24	−1.29–−0.37	−1.09–−0.07	−1.46–−0.42	−1.34–−0.20	0.39–1.37	0.13–1.18	0.17–1.01	−0.24–0.98
HOMA-IR 4	β1	−0.99 2	−0.71 1	−0.85 2	−0.63	−1.10 3	−0.87 2	0.92 2	0.84 2	0.55 1	0.44
	CI	−1.55–−0.42	−1.29–−0.12	−1.40–−0.30	−1.25–0.00	−1.64–−0.57	−1.41–−0.33	0.39–1.46	0.24–1.45	0.04–1.07	−0.24–1.12
Smoker	β1	−1.06 3	−0.82 2	−0.99 3	−0.75 2	−0.92 3	−0.72 2	0.96 3	0.75 2	0.91 3	0.48
	CI	−1.53–−0.59	−1.30–−0.33	−1.49–−0.49	−1.26–−0.23	−1.37–−0.48	−1.20–−0.24	0.45–1.47	0.22–1.29	0.42–1.39	−0.09–1.05

The following statistical models (generalized estimating equation, see Section 4.2.7. for details) estimate the effect of premature CHD on lipid parameters after adjusting separately for each of the confounding factors among men adjusted manually for age (for details of age adjustment see Section 2.1): z-score (sex-specific) of the lipid variable = β₁ x premature CHD (coded as 0 without CHD or 1 with premature CHD) + β₂ x the adjusting variable (sex-specific z-score if continuous) + the intercept. A unit of z-score is one standard deviation of native or normalized (transformed) lipid variable. CI, 95% confidence interval. Adjusting variables: MetS, metabolic syndrome status coded as 0 without metabolic syndrome or 1 with metabolic syndrome; HDL-C, plasma HDL cholesterol; TG, total plasma triglycerides; VLDL-TG, plasma VLDL triglycerides; VLDL protein, plasma VLDL protein; adipon., total plasma adiponectin; HMW-adipon., plasma high-molecular-weight adiponectin; waist, waist circumference; HOMA-IR, HOMA index of insulin resistance; smoker = 1 or non-smoker = 0 in the models. Unadjusted p-value of β: ¹ p < 0.05, ² p < 0.01, ³ p < 0.001; ⁴ log-transformed, ⁵ square root-transformed.