Table 1.
Main characteristics of our population
| COVID-19 negative | COVID-19 positive | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NO CBV | CBV | P | NO CBV | CBV | P | |
| (57) | (37) | (263) | (58) | |||
| Age (years) | 59.4 ± 14.78 | 65.37 ± 12.75* | 0.04 | 61.5 ± 14.2 | 63.6 ± 14.6 | 0.292 |
| Sex (male, %) | 50.9 | 59.5 | 0.42 | 54.7 | 55.1 | 0.954 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 25.62 ± 3.83 | 25.44 ± 2.9 | 0.8 | 24.93 ± 3.59 | 25.01 ± 2.9 | 0.865 |
| SBP (mmHg) | 133.88 ± 16.1 | 143.08 ± 19.3* | 0.014 | 137.76 ± 19.5 | 142.2 ± 19.3 | 0.114 |
| DBP (mmHg) | 79.93 ± 9.5 | 84.38 ± 8.8* | 0.025 | 84.46 ± 9.47 | 86.3 ± 14.9 | 0.239 |
| Hypertension (%) | 26.3 | 51.3* | 0.013 | 39.9 | 44.8 | 0.493 |
| Glycemia (mg/dl) | 104.9 ± 22.2 | 112.2 ± 27.8 | 0.163 | 109.39 ± 28.2 | 112.48 ± 42.7 | 0.497 |
| Diabetes (%) | 7.0 | 21.6* | 0.039 | 12.5 | 17.2 | 0.344 |
| Dyslipidemia (%) | 24.5 | 43.2 | 0.059 | 30.8 | 34.4 | 0.586 |
| Smoking (current/past, %) | 14/22.8 | 21.6/37.8* | 0.032 | 18.2/26.6 | 12.1/34.4# | 0.081 |
| D-dimer (µg/ml) | 2.35 ± 1.73 | 3.52 ± 0.95* | 0.001 | 2.80 ± 1.68 | 3.18 ± 1.83 | 0.120 |
| IL-6 (pg/ml) | 1.7 ± 1.1 | 4.0 ± 2.8* | 0.002 | 7.5 ± 4.0# | 8.4 ± 5.5# | 0.121 |
| TNFα (pg/ml) | 4.5 ± 2.3 | 6.0 ± 4.7* | 0.035 | 6.5 ± 4.2 | 5.8 ± 4.7 | 0.271 |
| hs-CRP (µg/ml) | 2.15 ± 1.1 | 2.6 ± 1.16 | 0.07 | 3.6 ± 3.2# | 4.2 ± 2.9# | 0.144 |
| EC-EV miR-24 (copies/10 nl) | 30.5 ± 14.6 | 29.85 ± 15.5 | 0.827 | 26.64 ± 20.9# | 15.41 ± 14.7*,# | 0.001 |
All P values in the table are reported in italic
Data on quantitative parameters are expressed as mean ± standard deviation; data on qualitative characteristics are expressed as percentage values or absolute numbers. BMI: Body mass index; CBV: cerebrovascular (events); DBP: diastolic blood pressure; EC-EV miR-24: level of miR-24 shuttled by endothelial (CD31+) extracellular vesicles; hs-CRP: high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; IL-6: interleukin-6; SBP: systolic blood pressure; and TNFα: tumor necrosis factor α. Following verification of normality (Shapiro–Wilk’s test) and equal variance (Bartlett’s test), continuous variables were compared using ANOVA followed by Tukey–Kramer test for independent samples, whereas variables not normally distributed were compared via the Kruskal–Wallis test; categorical data were compared using the χ2 test; *P < 0.05 versus NO CBV; #P < 0.05 versus COVID-19 negative