Table 2. Comparison of laboratory parameters in GU and chronic osteoarthritis patients.
| GU patients | Chronic OA patients | MANCOVA | Kruskal- Wallis Test | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAS score 0–1 (control) | VAS score 0–2 (very mild pain) | VAS score ≥ 3 (pain) | ||||
| F | p | p | ||||
| N | 14 | 8 | 21 | |||
| Plasma parameters (pg/mL) | ||||||
| TGF-β1 | 5108.3 ± 2094.6 | 1579.7 ± 661.1 | 739.3 ± 46.5*† | 4.790 | 0.015 | 0.035 |
| BDNF | 3952.0 ± 1106.5 | 2494.8 ± 1027.4 | 721.1 ± 211.6*†† | 4.896 | 0.014 | 0.001 |
| TNF-α | 1.87 ± 0.41 | 1.51 ± 0.58 | 1.21 ± 0.11 | 0.993 | 0.381 | 0.488 |
| IL-8 | 1.34 ± 0.32 | 1.39 ± 0.57 | 2.26 ± 0.45 | 0.286 | 0.753 | 0.251 |
| CSF parameters (pg/mL) | ||||||
| TGF-β1 | 38.41 ± 7.85 | 36.05 ± 10.63 | 12.16 ± 1.26*†# | 5.351 | 0.010 | 0.008 |
| BDNF | 12.11 ± 4.94 | 4.18 ± 2.97 | 1.74 ± 0.55 | 3.198 | 0.053 | 0.104 |
| TNF-α | 0.91 ± 0.34 | 0.27 ± 0.14 | 0.83 ± 0.30 | 0.175 | 0.840 | 0.395 |
| IL-8 | 74.28 ± 27.46 | 58.53 ± 28.39 | 68.05 ± 19.27 | 0.156 | 0.856 | 0.987 |
GU, genitourinary examination or operation. OA, osteoarthritis. VAS, Visual Analogue Scale. Patients with GU diseases without obvious pain (VAS score 0–1 at rest) were included as a comparison (control) group. Patients with OA were divided into very mild pain (VAS score 0–2) and pain (VAS score ≥ 3) groups according to their level of pain. Data were mean ± S.E. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) adjusted for covariates (age, gender, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and pain-relieving drugs used) was used to analyze the data. Data are mean ± SE.
*p < 0.05 vs. GU control patients. And a non-parametric method (Kruskal- Wallis test) was used to analyze the data.
†p < 0.05
††p < 0.01 vs. GU control patients.
#p < 0.05 OA with very mild pain vs OA with pain.