Profile of healthy female students in Syria: Investigation on anthropometric, lifestyle, and dietary characteristics, along with hematological and plasma biochemical parameters

Figures & data

Table 1. Clinical descriptive characteristics of participants (n = 206), results are presented as mean ± SD, P50 (P25–P75), minimum, and maximum. Damascus, Syria, September 2014

Characteristic, Unit	Mean ± SD	P50 (P25–P75)	Minimum	Maximum
Age, year	21.81 ± 1.84^§	22 (21–23)	18	25
Weight, kg	60.47 ± 7.76^∫	59.35 (54.6–65.8)	38.1	107
Height, cm	162.61 ± 5.58*^,^#	163 (159–166)	149	180
BMI, kg/cm^2	23.04 ± 3.38^#	22.42 (20.70–24.69)	16.49	35.34
Waist, cm	77.91 ± 6.35^∫	77 (73–82)	61	111
Hip, cm	92.39 ± 6.60^∫	91 (87–97)	63	190
WHR, ratio	0.84 ± 0.04^∫	0.85 (0.82–0.87)	0.4	1.17
Systolic bp^† , mmHg	110.53 ± 12.38^§	110 (100–120)	90	140
Diastolic bp^† , mmHg	72.04 ± 10.06^§	70 (70–80)	50	90
Diff bp^‡ , mmHg	38.50 ± 10.37^§	40 (30–40)	20	70
Pulse, b/min	79.56 ± 10.36^∫	80 (70–86)	58	120

Note: SD, P50, P25, and P75 are standard deviation, median, 25th, and 75th percentiles of participants, respectively.

^§ No normal distribution, mean ± SD was cited without any further interpretation.

^∫ After the elimination of 9–12 outliers, which were out the range of 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, the normal distribution was proved using Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (p < 0.05). Only mean ± SD were recalculated.

* Normal distribution was proved by Shapiro–Wilk test (p < 0.05).

^# Normal distribution was proved by Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (p < 0.05).

^† bp: Blood pressure.

^‡ Diff bp: Difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressures.

Table 2. Relative frequencies (%) of disease risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and CVD associated with BMI and waist circumference (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2015) among participants (n = 206). Damascus, Syria, September 2014

BMI (kg/m^2)	Class	Relative frequency (%)	Waist circumference
			≤88 (cm)	>88 (cm)
			Relative frequency (Disease risk*)
			89.80 (%)	10.20 (%)
<18.5	Underweight	2.90	2.90 (Non)	0.00 (^§ )
18.5–24.9	Normal	74.76	73.79 (Non)	0.97 (^§ )
25.0–29.9	Overweight	18.94	12.14 (Increased)	6.80 (High)
30.0–34.9	Obese I	2.91	0.97 (High)	1.94 (Very high)
35.0–39.9	Obese II	0.49	0.00 (Very high)	0.49 (Very high)
40 or greater	Extremely Obese III	0.00	0.00 (Extremely high)	0.00 (Extremely high)

* Disease risk relative to normal weight and waist circumference.

^§ Increased waist circumference also can be a marker for increased risk, even in persons of normal weight.

Table 3. Relative frequencies (%) of WHR and BMI along with weight classes (World Health Organization, 2011b) among participants (n = 206). Damascus, Syria, September 2014

			WHR
			<0.85	≥0.85
			Relative frequency
			52.42 (%)	47.58 (%)
BMI (kg/m^2)	Class	Relative frequency (%)
<18.5	Underweight	2.90	2.90	0.00
18.5–24.9	Normal	74.76	40.29	34.47
25.0–29.9	Overweight	18.94	7.77	11.17
30.0–34.9	Obese I	2.91	0.97	1.94
35.0–39.9	Obese II	0.49	0.49	0.00
40 or greater	Extremely Obese III	0.00	0.00	0.00

Table 4. Relative frequencies (%) of alcohol drinking, smoking, and sport habit characteristics among participants (n = 206). Damascus, Syria, September 2014

	Habit
Characteristic	Non (%)	Rarely (%)	Monthly (%)	Weekly (%)	Daily (%)
Alcohol drinking	94.17	5.83	0.00	0.00	0.00
Smoking	70.87	14.56	0.00	11.17	3.40
Smoking by tobacco type
Hubble-bubble* (27.67%)	0.00	14.56	0.00	11.17	1.94
Cigarette (1.46%)	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	1.46
Sport	27.67	0.49	0.97	7.77	63.11
Sport practices that need
No sport club (54.37%)	0.00	0.49	0.00	3.40	50.49
Sport club (17.96%)	0.00	0.00	0.97	4.37	12.62

* Water pipes, Shisha, Nargile, and hookah have similar structures in which the smoke passes through water, causing a bubbling sound.

Table 5. Adherence of participants (n = 206) to classes of score of MedDietScore and their odds ratios of having coronary heart disease proposed by Panagiotakos et al. (2006). Damascus, Syria, September 2014

Score of MedDietScore	Frequency (%)	Odds ratio*
0−11	0.00	2.17
12–22	16.02	1.63
23–34	80.10	1.42
35–44	3.88	1.01
45–55 “excellent” adherence	0.00	1

* Assuming the highest class as the one that describes “excellent” adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern, the odds ratio of having coronary heart disease for each class was calculated.

Table 6. Relative frequencies (%) of MedDietScore food categories’ Panagiotakos et al. (2006) consumption for participants (n = 206). Damascus, Syria, September 2014

Non-refined cereals	Never	1–6	7–12	13–18	19–31	>32*
%	23.3	31.07^§	11.17	7.77	11.17	15.53
Potatoes	Never	<1	1–2	3	4*	>4
%	0.49	20.39	48.54^§	16.02	6.8	7.77
Fruits	Never	1–4	5–8	9–15	16–21	>22*
%	7.28	34.47^§	30.58^§	17.48	6.8	3.4
Vegetables	Never	1–6	7–12	13–20	21–32	>33*
%	0.97	34.47^§	34.95^§	14.08	5.83	9.71
Legumes	Never	<1	1–2	3–4	5–6	>6*
%	2.91	28.16	38.35^§	21.84	5.34	3.4
Fish	Never	<1	1–2	3–4	5–6	>6*
%	20.87	52.91^§	20.87	4.85	0	0.49
Red meat and products	≤1*	2–3	4–5	6–7	8–10	>10
%	28.16	43.69^§	13.59	11.17	0.97	2.43
Poultry	≤3*	4–5	5–6	7–8	9–10	>10
%	43.7^§	26.21	14.08	12.62	0.97	2.43
Full-fat dairy products	≤10*	11–15	16–20	21–28	29–30	>30
%	37.9^§	14.08	13.11	9.71	6.31	18.93
Use of olive oil in cooking (times/week)	Never	Rare	<1	1–3	3–5	Daily*
%	0.49	4.37	2.91	8.74	13.11	70.39^§
Alcoholic beverages (mL/day-100 mL = 12 g ethanol)	<300*	300	400	500	600	>700^§§ or 0
%	3.4	0.49	0	0	0.49	95.63^§

* Recommended consumption by MedDietScore.

^§ Highest frequency.

^§§ None of the participants reported a consumption over 700 mL of alcoholic.

Figure 1. Median, 25th and 75th percentiles of participant adherence to food types of MedDietScore concept.

Notes: Vertical lines denote the median; horizontal lines represent participant’s group enclosed between participants at 25th and 75th percentiles. Dashed line is the adherence of participant who has a normal value of uric acid and dotted line is the adherence of participant who has a low value of uric acid. American College of Physicians’ (2011–2015) reference values were used. Damascus, Syria, September 2014.

Table 7. Distribution of clinical chemistry and hematological characteristics of participants (n = 206), results are presented as mean ± SD or P50 (P25–P75), minimum, and maximum. Damascus, Syria, September 2014

Characteristic, Unit	Mean ± SD	P50 (P25–P75)	Minimum	Maximum
Glucose, mg/dL	85.25 ± 9.95^#	86 (78.25–93)	56	112
Cholesterol, mg/dL	153.69 ± 29.07*^#	152.5 (137–173.75)	50	230
Triglycerides, mg/dL	68.90 ± 18.25^∫	66 (54.25–79)	34	220
Uric acid, mg/dL	3.34 ± 0.67^∫	3.25 (2.825–4)	1.5	6
Alanine aminotransferase, IU/L	16.15 ± 4.11*^#	16 (13–19)	3	28
Red blood cells, million/uL	4.85 ± 0.41^#	4.81 (4.56–5.07)	3.91	7.13
Hemoglobin, g/dL	12.43 ± 1.36^#	12.5 (11.72–13.38)	7	16
Hematocrit, %	40.15 ± 3.59^#	40.8 (38.13–42.20)	27	50.6

Note: SD, P50, P25, and P75 are standard deviation, median, 25th, and 75th percentiles of participants, respectively.

^# Normal distribution was proved by Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (p < 0.05).

* Normal distribution was proved by Shapiro–Wilk test (p < 0.05).

^∫ After the elimination of 9–12 outliers, which were out the range of 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles, the normal distribution was proved using Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (p < 0.05). Only mean ± SD were recalculated.

Table 8. Participant numbers, relative frequencies (%), and correlation coefficients* between pairs of food types (diet patterns) were grouped by low, normal, and high levels of clinical chemistry and hematological reference values of ACP** (n = 206). Damascus, Syria, September 2014

	ACP	Low	Normal		High
Characteristic, Unit		Number of participants (relative frequencies %)
Diet pattern		Food type to pair with: Food type (correlation coefficient)^a^, ^b^, ^c , food type
Glucose, mg/dL	[70–100]	11 (5.3)		186 (90.3)		9 (4.4)
Diet pattern		^†		§		^†
Cholesterol, mg/dL	[150–199]	88 (42.7)		106 (51.5)		12 (5.8)
Diet pattern		Potatoes: Legumes (0.21)^c		Non-refined cereals: Red meat (0.22)^b and Poultry (0.24)^b		^†
		Fruits: Red meat (0.24)^b , Poultry (0.28)^b		Potatoes: Poultry (0.21)^c
		Vegetables: Full-fat dairy (0.33)^b and Olive oil (0.28)^b		Poultry: Full-fat dairy (0.21)^c
Triglycerides, mg/dL	[0–150]	0 (0)		202 (98.1)		4 (1.9)
Diet pattern		^†		§		^†
Uric acid, mg/dL	[2.5–8]	26 (12.6)		180 (87.4)		0 (0)
Diet pattern		Potatoes: Full-fat dairy (−0.41)^b		Non-refined cereals: Fruits (0.15)^c , in addition to §		^†
ALAT, IU/L	[0–35]	0 (0)		206 (100)		0 (0)
Diet pattern		^†		§		^†
RBC, million/uL	[4.2–5.9]	4 (1.9)		199 (96.6)		3 (1.5)
Diet pattern		^†		§		^†
Hemoglobin, g/dL	[12–16]	64 (31.1)		142 (68.9)		0 (0)
Diet pattern		Non-refined cereals: Poultry (0.25)^c		Potatoes: Poultry (0.21)^b		^†
		Potatoes: Legumes (0.29)^b		Fruits: Vegetables (0.42)^a and Legumes (0.17)^c
		Legumes: Full-fat dairy (0.27)^c		Vegetables: Legumes (0.27)^b and Olive oil (0.27)^b
		Poultry: Full-fat dairy (0.28)^b
Hematocrit, %	[36–47]	20 (9.7)		182 (88.3)		4 (1.9)
Diet pattern		^†		§		^†

Notes: ALAT: alanine aminotransferase, RBC: red blood cells.

* That had p-value < 0.05 and were not in common between groups of the same characteristic.

** American College of Physicians (2011–2015).

^† Number of participants was not sufficient to identify any correlation.

^§ Similar to general diet pattern for all participants: Potatoes: Poultry (0.19)^b. Fruits: Vegetables (0.35)^a and Legumes (0.15)^c. Vegetables: Legumes (0.24)^a and Poultry (0.26)^a; Full-fat dairy (0.25)^a and Olive oil (0.19)^b; and Red meat: Poultry (0.39)^a and Poultry: Full-fat dairy (0.17)^b.

^a p-value < 0.001.

^b p-value < 0.025.

^c p-value < 0.05.

Table 9. Notable correlation coefficients* between pairs of variables. Damascus, Syria, September 2014

First variable	Second variable (Kendall’s tau-b correlation coefficient, p-value)
BMI	Waist circumference (0.61, <0.001)
	Hip circumference (0.60, <0.001)
	W/H ratio (0.14, 0.003)
Systolic blood pressure	Weight (0.26, <0.001)
	BMI (0.26, <0.001)
	Waist circumference (0.17, 0.001)
	Hip circumference (0.18, <0.001)
Potatoes	BMI (−0.17, 0.002)
	Waist circumference (−0.15, 0.006)
	Hip circumference (−0.20, <0.001)
Glucose	Vegetables (0.11, 0.033)
	Poultry (−0.12, 0.028)
	Olive oil (0.15, 0.005)
Uric acid	Non-refined cereals (−0.12, 0.028)
Triglycerides	Weight (0.11, 0.023)
	Waist circumference (0.14, 0.005)
	Hip circumference (0.11, 0.019)

* Only correlation coefficients that have p-value < 0.05 are demonstrated.

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