Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics according to tertiles of Lp(a) level
| Characteristics | Total (n=3059) | Tertiles of the lp(a) level | P value | ||
| T1 (n=1002) | T2 (n=1027) | T3 (n=1030) | |||
| Age, years | 61.2±6.7 | 61.2±6.8 | 61.1±6.5 | 61.3±6.7 | 0.95 |
| Female sex, n (%) | 1636 (53.5) | 513 (51.2) | 546 (53.2) | 577 (56.0) | 0.09 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 23.8±3.0 | 23.9±3.2 | 23.7±2.9 | 23.7±3.1 | 0.17 |
| Current smoker, n (%) | 626 (20.5) | 221 (22.1) | 207 (20.2) | 198 (19.2) | 0.27 |
| Current drinker, n (%) | 573 (18.7) | 217 (21.7) | 174 (16.9) | 182 (17.7) | 0.01 |
| Medical history, n(%) | |||||
| Hypertension | 1316 (43.0) | 444 (44.3) | 430 (41.9) | 442 (42.9) | 0.54 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 660 (21.6) | 269 (26.8) | 203 (19.8) | 188 (18.3) | <0.001 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 613 (20.0) | 201 (20.1) | 190 (18.5) | 222 (21.6) | 0.22 |
| Stroke | 87 (2.8) | 24 (2.4) | 34 (3.3) | 29 (2.8) | 0.46 |
| Coronary artery disease | 13 (0.4) | 2 (0.2) | 8 (0.8) | 3 (0.3) | 0.10 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 26 (0.8) | 8 (0.8) | 12 (1.2) | 6 (0.6) | 0.34 |
| SBP, mmHg | 129.3±16.3 | 129.3±16.3 | 129.0±16.6 | 129.5±16.2 | 0.66 |
| DBP, mmHg | 75.2±9.0 | 75.2±9.2 | 75.2±9.1 | 75.3±8.9 | 0.72 |
| Fasting plasma glucose, mmol/L | 5.96±1.58 | 6.09±1.66 | 5.98±1.78 | 5.81±1.25 | <0.001 |
| TC, mmol/L | 5.28±0.99 | 5.09±0.98 | 5.28±0.95 | 5.47±1.01 | <0.001 |
| LDL-C, mmol/L | 2.78±0.79 | 2.60±0.81 | 2.77±0.75 | 2.96±0.79 | <0.001 |
| HDL-C, mmol/L | 1.37±0.34 | 1.33±0.35 | 1.36±0.32 | 1.40±0.34 | <0.001 |
| Medication use, n(%) | |||||
| Antihypertensive | 820 (26.8) | 264 (26.3) | 266 (25.9) | 290 (28.2) | 0.47 |
| Antidiabetic | 273 (8.9) | 107 (10.7) | 89 (8.7) | 77 (7.5) | 0.04 |
| Lipid lowering | 120 (3.9) | 40 (4.0) | 33 (3.2) | 47 (4.6) | 0.29 |
| Anticoagulants | 4 (0.1) | 1 (0.1) | 3 (0.3) | 0 (0.0) | 0.18 |
| Imaging markers, n(%) | |||||
| Intracranial plaque | 541 (17.7) | 154 (15.4) | 192 (18.7) | 195 (18.9) | 0.06 |
| Cerebral small vessel diseases | 933 (30.5) | 318 (31.7) | 348 (33.9) | 267 (25.9) | <0.001 |
| Confluent WMH | 509 (16.6) | 177 (17.7) | 183 (17.8) | 149 (14.5) | 0.07 |
| Lacune | 170 (5.6) | 58 (5.8) | 67 (6.5) | 45 (4.4) | 0.10 |
| Cerebral microbleeds | 313 (10.2) | 90 (9.0) | 121 (11.8) | 102 (9.9) | 0.10 |
| BG-PVS >10 | 300 (9.8) | 111 (11.1) | 99 (9.6) | 90 (8.7) | 0.20 |
P value tests difference of baseline characteristics among Lp(a) tertile groups by analysis of variance for continuous variables and χ2 test for categorical variables. Tertiles of Lp(a): T1, <40 mg/L; T2, 40-105 mg/L; T3, ≥106 mg/L.
BG-PVS, basal ganglia-enlarged perivascular spaces; BMI, body mass index; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; Lp(a), lipoprotein(a); SBP, systolic blood pressure; T, tertile; TC, total cholesterol; WMH, white matter hyperintensity.