Age-related changes of cholestanol and lathosterol plasma concentrations: an explorative study

Table 1 Characteristics and sterol profiles of studied subjects

Parameters	Newborns(n = 24)	Children(n = 33)	Adults (n = 73)	Multiple comparisons (p)
Parameters	Newborns(n = 24)	Children(n = 33)	Adults (n = 73)	Overall significance	Newborns vs Children	Newborns vs Adults	Children vs Adults
Gender (n° males and %)	18 (75.0%)	18 (54.5%)	51 (69.9%)	ns	nc	nc	nc
Age (years) ^a	0.25 (0.08–0.54)	4.00 (2.75–6.96)	34 (26.5–41.0)	< 0.0001	nc	nc	nc
Cholesterol (mmol/L)	3.24 (1.06)	3.81 (0.90)	4.35 (0.78)	< 0.0001	0.047	< 0.0001	0.011
Cholestanol (μmol/L) ^a	8.36 (5.18–10.42)	7.20 (5.90–8.67)	5.29 (4.21–8.21)	0.024	ns	ns	ns
Lathosterol (μmol/L)	5.15 (2.97)	4.83 (1.78)	6.78 (2.81)	0.0006	ns	0.028	0.002
Cholestanol/Cholesterol (μmol/mmol) ^a	2.46 (1.76–3.54)	1.98 (1.49–2.26)	1.34 (1.06–1.90)	< 0.0001	0.011	0.0001	0.002
Lathosterol/Cholesterol (μmol/mmol)	1.72 (1.05)	1.29 (0.40)	1.57 (0.62)	0.050	ns	ns	ns
Cholestanol/Lathosterol (μmol/μmol) ^a	1.88 (1.20–2.40)	1.66 (1.02–2.18)	0.84 (0.59–1.53)	0.001	ns	0.001	0.001

^aData of non-parametric distributions are reported as median and interquartile range and the comparisons are performed by Kruskal-Wallis test
ns not significant difference
nc not calculated

ISSN: 1476-511X