Clinical characteristics of four quartiles of FMD
| FMD quartiles | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quartile 1 | Quartile 2 | Quartile 3 | Quartile 4 | ||
| ≤3.9 | 4.0–5.8 | 5.9–7.9 | ≥8.0 | ||
| Variables | (n=1329) | (n=1329) | (n=1328) | (n=1328) | p Value |
| Age (years) | 50.6±13.2 | 47.7±12.8 | 44.8±12.9 | 42.0±12.8 | <0.001 |
| Body Mass Index, kg/m2 | 23.5±3.3 | 23.2±3.2 | 23.0±3.3 | 22.3±3.2 | <0.001 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 128.5±18.5 | 125.9±17.1 | 123.6±16.3 | 120.5±15.9 | <0.001 |
| Diastolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 77.8±13.1 | 77.2±13.0 | 75.6±12.5 | 73.9±12.8 | <0.001 |
| Heart rate, bpm | 64.1±11.0 | 63.9±10.9 | 63.4±10.0 | 64.6±9.9 | 0.03 |
| Total cholesterol, mmol/L | 5.30±0.89 | 5.29±0.87 | 5.25±0.89 | 5.18±0.86 | 0.01 |
| Triglycerides, mmol/L | 1.57±1.20 | 1.48±1.05 | 1.38±0.90 | 1.29±1.01 | <0.001 |
| HDL cholesterol, mmol/L | 1.55±0.43 | 1.55±0.41 | 1.57±0.40 | 1.61±0.42 | 0.01 |
| LDL cholesterol, mmol/L | 3.20±0.89 | 3.21±0.77 | 3.20±0.78 | 3.14±0.78 | 0.14 |
| Glucose, mmol/L | 5.73±1.64 | 5.59±1.17 | 5.46±0.85 | 5.35±0.83 | <0.001 |
| HbA1c, % | 5.24±0.75 | 5.17±0.57 | 5.10±0.52 | 5.04±0.46 | <0.001 |
| Framingham Risk score | 4.36±4.34 | 3.37±4.83 | 2.08±5.42 | 0.57±6.39 | <0.001 |
| Baseline brachial artery diameter, mm | 4.32±0.61 | 4.11±0.53 | 3.92±0.53 | 3.66±0.52 | <0.001 |
| FMD, % | 2.33±1.40 | 4.97±0.54 | 6.94±0.59 | 10.41±2.23 | <0.001 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 331 (25.1) | 196 (14.8) | 133 (10.0) | 78 (5.9) | <0.001 |
| Dyslipidemia, n (%) | 655 (49.6) | 598 (45.2) | 539 (40.6) | 472 (35.8) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 134 (10.2) | 91 (6.9) | 67 (5.1) | 44 (3.3) | <0.001 |
| Smoking, n (%) | 461 (35.1) | 407 (30.9) | 346 (26.1) | 281 (21.4) | <0.001 |
| Coronary heart disease, n (%) | 47 (3.6) | 30 (2.3) | 24 (1.8) | 16 (1.3) | <0.001 |
| Cerebrovascular disease, n (%) | 20 (1.9) | 12 (1.1) | 8 (0.7) | 6 (0.5) | 0.01 |
p Values for comparisons across the quartiles of FMD were performed with ANOVA for continuous variables and χ2 test for categorical variables.
FMD, flow-mediated vasodilation; HDL, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.