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Table 1 Characteristics of participants based on thymic scores. Four groups of thymic scores are presented; Score 0, complete fatty replacement, no identifiable soft tissue in the thymic bed, Score 1, predominantly fatty thymus, Score 2, approximately one-half fatty and one-half soft tissue attenuation thymus, and Score 3, predominantly soft tissue attenuation thymus

From: Complete fatty degeneration of thymus associates with male sex, obesity and loss of circulating naïve CD8+ T cells in a Swedish middle-aged population

 

Thymic scores

 

0 (n = 615)

1 (n = 259)

2 (n = 105)

3 (n = 69)

pa

Demographic and clinical characteristics

 Age, years

58 (55–62)

56 (52–60)

54 (52–59)

54 (52–59)

 < 0.001

 Male sex

391 (64)

103 (40)

26 (25)

10 (14)

 < 0.001

 BMI

27 (25–30)

25 (24–28)

24 (23–27)

24 (21–26)

 < 0.001

 Abdominal obesity

488 (79)

144 (56)

40 (38)

16 (23)

 < 0.001

 Smoking, current

former

52 (8.5)

12 (4.6)

6 (5.7)

4 (5.8)

NS

204 (33)

71 (27)

26 (25)

11 (16)

0.009

 Anti-hypertensive medication

136 (22)

38 (15)

3 (2.9)

8 (12)

NS

 Hypertension, systolicb

diastolicc

209 (34)

70 (27)

20 (19)

16 (23)

0.003

168 (27)

52 (20)

16 (15)

13 (19)

0.009

 Anti-diabetic medication

40 (6.5)

4 (1.5)

3 (2.9)

2 (2.9)

NS

 Diabetesd

61 (9.9)

4 (1.5)

3 (2.9)

5 (7.2)

0.009

Clinical chemistry

 Total cholesterol, mmol/L

5.4 (4.6–6.2)

5.4 (4.8–6.1)

5.4 (4.8–6.3)

5.2 (4.8–5.9)

NS

 LDL cholesterol, mmol/L

3.2 (2.6–4.0)

3.2 (2.8–3.8)

3.2 (2.5–3.9)

2.8 (2.3–3.3)

0.035

 HDL cholesterol, mmol/L

1.5 (1.2–1.8)

1.7 (1.4–2.0)

1.7 (1.5–2.2)

2.0 (1.8–2.4)

 < 0.001

 Triglycerides, mmol/L

1.2 (0.8–1.6)

1.0 (0.7–1.3)

0.9 (0.7–1.2)

0.8 (0.6–1.0)

 < 0.001

 CRP, mg/L

1.1 (0.6–2.3)

0.9 (0.4–1.7)

0.7 (0.3–1.4)

0.8 (0.3–1.5)

 < 0.001

 IL-6, pg/mL

1.15 (0.80–1.57)

1.02 (0.68–1.47)

0.96 (0.68–1.39)

1.02 (0.77–1.43)

0.004

 IL-18, pg/mL

365 (282–464)

323 (251–406)

310 (244–432)

272 (222–369)

 < 0.001

White blood cell differential counts

 Leukocytes, 103/μL

5.9 (5.1–7.0)

5.5 (4.7–6.5)

5.3 (4.4–6.5)

5.4 (4.4–6.4)

 < 0.001

 Granulocytes, 103/μL

3.5 (2.8–4.2)

3.1 (2.6–3.7)

2.9 (2.3–3.8)

2.8 (2.3–3.8)

 < 0.001

 Lymphocytes, 103/μL

1.8 (1.5–2.1)

1.8 (1.5–2.1)

1.9 (1.5–2.2)

1.7 (1.5–2.1)

NS

  1. Continuous data are expressed as median (interquartile range) and dichotomous data as n (%)
  2. aThe Kruskal–Wallis H test was used to compare characteristics between groups with different thymic scores
  3. bSystolic hypertension, defined as ≥ 140 mm Hg
  4. cDiastolic hypertension, defined as ≥ 90 mm Hg
  5. dDiabetes, defined as HbA1c ≥ 48 mmol/mol
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Immunity & Ageing

ISSN: 1742-4933

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