Table 1 Measurements of physiological stress load parameters in study cohort. Mean and range (in parenthesis) of quantitative parameters used to calculate physiological stress load. Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric one-way ANOVA was used for evaluating significance. Means not sharing a common letter are significantly different. P < 0.05 was considered significant. NS, not significant

[n]

112

111

107

Male/Female

[n]

55/57

58/53

47/60

Age

[years]

24.82 (19–33)

40.95 (34–49)

56.99 (50–66)

BMI

[kg/m²]

26.86 (18.21–38.68)

27.57 (18.04–43.25)

26.76 (19.09–40.08)

NS

Physiological stress load

2.054 (0–6)a

2.505 (0–8)a

3.626 (0–7)b

P < 0.0001

urinary Cortisol/Creatinine

[ug/g]

77.65 (20.95–320.3)a

94.30 (31.54–282.6)b

104.50 (26.18–356.6)b

P < 0.0001

urinary Epinephrine/Creatinine

[ug/g]

2.64 (0.33–12.31)

2.46 (0.21–12.22)

2.55 (0.31–12.07)

NS

urinary Norepinephrine/Creatinine

[ug/g]

22.4 (2.58–80.39)a

19.2 (3.08-75.00)a

28.6 (2.23–90.95)b

P < 0.0001

Waist circumference

[cm]

81.66 (60.8-120.2)a

86.96 (63.5-135.8)b

85.81 (66.7-115.2)b

P = 0.0054

Systolic blood pressure

[mmHg]

117.3 (93.5-138.5)a

119.2 (92.0-140.3)ab

122.3 (93.0-147.5)b

P = 0.0039

Diastolic blood pressure

[mmHg]

66.3 (50.0–85.0)a

69.8 (50.0-91.3)b

68.5 (51.0-93.5)ab

P = 0.0174

serum Cholesterol

[mg/dL]

160.3 (88.5-261.6)a

175 (118.8-263.1)b

191.7 (108.6-316.8)c

P < 0.0001

serum HDL Cholesterol

[mg/dL]

55.19 (27.5-109.4)

53.59 (23.8-108.3)

57.69 (27.9–116.0)

NS

plasma HbA1c

[%]

5.18 (4.6-6.0)a

5.32 (4.7–10.9)b

5.40 (4.8–6.5)c

P < 0.0001

plasma hs-CRP

[ng/mL]

4096 (62-75352)

3451 (50-40854)

3814 (127-32686)

NS

plasma DHEA-S

[ug/dL]

310.9 (107.7–1000.0)a

223.6 (30.0-497.3)b

139.0 (33.9-378.4)c

P < 0.0001