Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study population across coronary artery calcification (CAC) tertiles
|  | Tertile 1 (N = 93) | Tertile 2 (N = 54) | Tertile 3 (N = 58) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Age (years) | 60.0 [51.0; 66.0] | 67.0 [61.3; 71.8] | 69.5 [65.0; 74.8] |  < 0.001 |
BMI (kg/m2) | 27.8 [25.2; 31.2] | 27.7 [24.9; 31.1] | 27.7 [24.7; 30.7] | 0.939 |
Gender (men, N, %)* | 59 (63.4) | 43 (79.6) | 48 (82.8) | 0.015 |
Smoking (N, %)** | 6 (6.5) | 6 (11.3) | 4 (6.9) | 0.561 |
Arrhythmia (N, %)*** | 5 (5.4) | 5 (9.4) | 11 (19.3) | 0.030 |
Heart failure (N, %)*** | 0 (0.0) | 2 (3.8) | 3 (5.3) | 0.068 |
Coronary artery disease (N, %)*** | 1 (1.1) | 5 (9.4) | 10 (17.5) |  < 0.001 |
Myocardial infarction (N, %)*** | 0 (0.0) | 3 (5.7) | 20 (35.1) |  < 0.001 |
Valvular disease (N, %)*** | 1 (1.1) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1.000 |
Diabetes mellitus (N, %) | 7 (7.5) | 11 (20.4) | 20 (34.5) |  < 0.001 |
Chronic pulmonary disease (N, %) | 9 (9.7) | 8 (14.8) | 10 (17.2) | 0.374 |
Chronic kidney disease (N, %) | 1 (1.1) | 0 (0.0) | 7 (12.1) | 0.001 |
APACHE-II (points) | 15.0 [13.0; 17.0] | 14.5 [13.0; 18.0] | 16.0 [14.0; 19.0] | 0.004 |
ICU-mortality (N, %)* | 30 (32.3) | 21 (38.9) | 36 (62.1) | 0.001 |
QRST area (µVs) | 58.0 [46.1; 79.5] | 60.7 [40.1; 80.1] | 65.8 [47.5; 82.1] | 0.429 |
QRS area (µVs) | 25.9 [19.4; 34.5] | 27.5 [19.3; 34.4] | 32.2 [26.3; 41.2] | 0.006 |
T area (µVs) | 31.0 [23.5; 50.0] | 31.6 [16.8; 44.8] | 30.5 [18.1; 45.1] | 0.529 |
QRS duration (ms) | 99.1 [86.3; 112.7] | 101.4 [91.0; 119.4] | 110.3 [94.8; 130.4] | 0.011 |
QRS amplitude (mV) | 1.0 [0.8; 1.3] | 1.1 [0.8; 1.3] | 1.1 [0.9; 1.4] | 0.296 |
QTc time (ms) | 408.0 (68.2) | 415.7 (79.0) | 427.7 (82.6) | 0.298 |
Hs-cTnT (ng/L) | 11.5 [7.0; 25.3] | 14.0 [10.0; 28.0] | 20.0 [12.0; 51.8] | 0.002 |
NT-proBNP (pmol/L) (IQR) | 47.6 [25.9; 122.8] | 67.8 [21.0; 157.0] | 92.7 [30.3; 252.8] | 0.033 |