Table 2 Baseline characteristics of participants by low-density lipoprotein cholesterol categories
| Â | LDL cholesterol categories (mg/dL) | Â | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  | Very Low (<  5%) <  70 | Low (5–19%) 70–92 | Medium (20–79%) 93–143 | High (≥ 80%) ≥ 144 |  |
Characteristics N = 3684 | N = 181 | N = 555 | N = 2212 | N = 736 | P-value * |
Gender (male), % | 78.5 | 59.1 | 41.6 | 29.9 | <  0.001 |
Age (years) | 59 ± 17 | 61 ± 15 | 65 ± 12 | 65 ± 11 | <  0.001 |
Body mass index categories a, % | 10.5/70.7/18.8 | 7.4/69.9/22.7 | 4.5/68.4/27.0 | 3.3/63.5/33.3 | <  0.001 |
 Body mass index (kg/m2) | 22.3 ± 3.3 | 22.7 ± 3.2 | 23.3 ± 3.1 | 23.9 ± 3.3 | <  0.001 |
Smoking habits (non = 1, ex = 2, light = 3, heavy = 4), % | 43.6/50.3/1.7/4.4 | 55.1/35.3/2.5/7.0 | 68.8/22.7/3.0/5.5 | 73.6/20.9/2.2/3.3 | <  0.001 |
Drinking habits (non = 1, occasional = 2, light = 3, heavy = 4), % | 23.2/22.7/24.9/29.3 | 37.8/29.5/20.5/12.1 | 53.3/26.1/12.5/8.0 | 64.1/22.6/8.7/4.6 | <  0.001 |
History of cardiovascular disease, % | 6.1 | 8.6 | 8.5 | 6.7 | 0.303 |
Hypertension, % | 53.6 | 52.3 | 58.1 | 58.3 | 0.057 |
 Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 136 ± 20 | 135 ± 21 | 138 ± 21 | 139 ± 22 | 0.001 |
 Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 80 ± 12 | 79 ± 12 | 80 ± 11 | 81 ± 12 | 0.001 |
Hypertriglyceridemia, % | 32.0 | 12.1 | 16.7 | 23.0 | <  0.001 |
 Triglyceridemia (mg/dL) | 100 (60–179) | 81 (61–114) | 91 (69–127) | 105 (81–145) | <  0.001 |
Low HDL-cholesterolemia, % | 9.4 | 4.9 | 3.8 | 4.9 | 0.004 |
 HDL cholesterol (mg/dL) | 60 ± 19 | 63 ± 18 | 63 ± 15 | 61 ± 15 | <  0.001 |
Lipid-lowering medication, % | 6.6 | 11.0 | 10.5 | 6.9 | 0.011 |
LDL cholesterol (mg/dL) | 58 ± 9 | 82 ± 6 | 118 ± 14 | 162 ± 18 | <  0.001 |
Diabetes, % | 11.0 | 8.5 | 9.7 | 9.4 | 0.733 |
 Blood glucose (mg/dL) | 97 (89–111) | 98 (89–114) | 100 (91–114) | 103 (92–117) | 0.002 |
Chronic kidney disease, % | 11.6 | 9.0 | 10.2 | 10.6 | 0.712 |
 eGFR (mL/min/1.73 m2) | 82.9 ± 20.0 | 80.7 ± 17.4 | 77.6 ± 16.1 | 76.2 ± 15.1 | <  0.001 |
Hyperuricemia, % | 26.5 | 15.0 | 12.5 | 12.2 | <  0.001 |
 Serum uric acid (mg/dL) | 5.8 ± 1.6 | 5.2 ± 1.5 | 5.1 ± 1.4 | 5.1 ± 1.4 | <  0.001 |