Table 1 Baseline characteristics

Gender [female/male]

77/11

25/5

28/4

24/2

0.602

Age [years]

84.5 (65.0–97.4)

84.5 (69.4–97.4)

84.4 (71.7–93.2)

84.3 (65.0–92.2)

0.864

BMI [kg/m²]

28.9 (18.1–50.0)

29.8 (18.1–36.9)

28.2 (22.7–40.2)

27.9 (22.9–50.0)

0.741

Obesity [n (%)]

32 (36.8 %)

14 (46.7 %)

8 (25.0 %)

10 (35.7 %)

0.235

Hyperlipidaemia [n (%)]

32 (36.4 %)

9 (30.0 %)

10 (31.3 %)

13 (46.4 %)

0.226

Diabetes Type II [n (%)]

14 (15.9 %)

6 (20 %)

7 (21.9 %)

1 (3.6 %)

0.132

Hypertension [n (%)]

70 (79.5 %)

26 (86.7 %)

27 (84.4 %)

17 (60.7 %)

0.100

Cardiac diseases [n (%)]

27 (30.7 %)

12 (40.0 %)

9 (28.1 %)

6 (21.4 %)

0.362

Osteoporosis [n (%)]

35 (39.8 %)

12 (40.0 %)

12 (37.5 %)

11 (39.3 %)

0.933

History of cancer [n (%)]

12 (13.6 %)

5 (16.7 %)

4 (12.5 %)

3 (10.7 %)

0.833

 Leukocytes [x10⁹ cells/L]

6.6 (3.3–13.0)

7.4 (4.9–10.3)*

5.8 (3.1–9.8)

6.9 (4.4–13.3)*

0.002

 Lymphocytes [cells/μl]

1990 (930–4930)

1985 (910–3510)

1835 (830–3330)

2200 (1460–4700)

0.085

 Neutrophils [cells/μl]

3695 (1530–9860)

4414 (2410–6630)*

2931 (1530–6800)

3889 (2370–9860)

<0.001

 Eosinophils [cells/μl]

200 (10–740)

225 (36–620)

160 (10–740)

220 (10–470)

0.135

 Basophils [cells/μl]

40 (10–111)

45 (10–111)

35 (10–190)

35 (10–90)

0.397

 Monocytes [cells/μl]

560 (250–910)

587 (72–950)

520 (260–860)

545 (320–960)

0.189

 hs-CRP [mg/L]

1.95 (0.3–7.9)

2.1 (0.5–7.9)

1.9 (0.3–7.6)

1.9 (0.6–6.7)

0.918

 TGF-β [μg/L]

33.3 (16.7–73.7)

38.2 (18.7–73.7)

32.8 (16.7–55.4)

32.1 (21.0–51.2)

0.083

PBMC gene expression

 TGF-β/GAPDH [-]

0.85 (0.06–3.36)

0.48 (0.23–2.66)

0.60 (0.21–2.52)

0.58 (0.06–3.36)

0.725

 TGF-βRI/GAPDH [-]

2.05 (0.14–28.82)

1.99 (0.14–22.39)

2.04 (0.69–19.25)

2.11 (0.29–28.81)

0.990

 TGF-βRII/GAPDH [-]

1.67 (0.51–15.85)

1.54 (0.66–7.79)

1.60 (0.66–14.85)

1.79 (0.51–10.80)

0.714

 miRNA–21 [copies/pg]

2400 (57–4720)

2920 (343–4500)

2120 (57–4720)

2350 (550–4590)

0.765