Sex differences in the combined effect of chronic stress with impaired vascular endothelium functioning and the development of early atherosclerosis: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study

Table 1 Characteristics of the study participants (Total N = 1721)

	Women			Men
Variable	Mean	(SD)	N	Mean	(SD)	N	p-value
Age, years (24-39)	*31.58*	5.03	1002	*31.76*	5.08	719	0.467 ^ns
Baseline brachial diameter, (mm)	*3.11*	0.32	949	*3.99*	0.44	653	0.000***
Flow-mediated dilatation, FMD (%)	*8.81*	4.55	949	*6.92*	4.04	653	0.000***
Carotid artery compliance, CAC (%/10 mmHg)	*2.31*	0.77	999	*2.01*	0.66	716	0.000***
Carotid intima-media thickness, IMT (mm)	*0.57*	0.08	1002	*0.59*	0.10	719	0.000***
Vital exhaustion, VE	*0.47*	0.39	1002	*0.35*	0.34	719	0.000***
LDL-cholesterol (mmol/l)	*3.17*	0.77	997	*3.44*	0.91	714	0.000***
HDL-cholesterol (mmol/l)	*1.40*	0.31	997	*1.17*	0.28	714	0.000***
Triclycerids (mmol/l)	*1.17*	0.58	997	*1.44*	0.77	714	0.000***
Systolic BP (mm Hg)	*117.30*	13.06	601	*116.36*	13.18	491	0.236 ^ns
Diastolic BP (mm Hg)	*71.29*	10.66	601	*70.37*	10.96	491	0.161 ^ns

*** < .001; ^ns - non-significant.
HDL = high density lipoprotein, LDL = low density lipoprotein, BP = blood pressure.
P-values refer to the mean differences between the men and women.

ISSN: 1471-2261