Hair cortisol and the risk for acute myocardial infarction in adult men

Figures & data

Table I.  Diagnosis of the control patients at discharge.

Diagnosis at discharge	Number of patients (%) N = 60
Chest pain	31 (51.7)
Infections
Cellulitis/erysipelas	4 (6.7)
Urinary tract infections	2 (3.3)
Pneumonia	2 (3.3)
Congestive heart failure	5 (8.3)
Atrial fibrillation	4 (6.7)
Syncope	3 (5)
Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus type 2	2 (3.3)
Others	7 (11.7)

Note: These patients were admitted to hospital for reasons excluding acute coronary syndrome or stroke.

Table II.  Patient characteristics of the AMI case and control groups.

Clinical characteristics	Case (N = 56)	Control (N = 56)	p value
Age (years)^†	58.2 (9.5)	63.7 (12.4)	0.01^*
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)^†	176.7 (38.8)	166.2 (36.6)	0.15
LDL (mg/dl)^†	107.5 (37.1)	91.7 (32.1)	0.02^*
HDL (mg/dl)^‡	38.5 (26.0–125.0)	42 (27.0–125.0)	0.04^*
BMI (kg/m^2)^‡	28.0 (21.0–34.0)	26.0 (21.0–34.0)	0.03^*
Hair cortisol (ng/g)^‡	295.3 (105.4–809.3)	224.9 (76.6–949.9)	0.006^*
Diabetes mellitus type 2 (%)^¶	20 (36%)	17 (30%)	0.69
Hypertension (%)^¶	24 (43%)	27 (48%)	0.71
Dyslipidemia (%)^¶	40 (71%)	38 (68%)	0.84
Current smoker (%)^¶	26 (46%)	16 (29%)	0.08
Former smoker (%)^¶	8 (14%)	9 (16%)	1
CAD in past (%)^¶	18 (32%)	17 (30%)	1
CVA in past (%)^¶	3 (5%)	2 (4%)	1
Family history of CVD (%)^¶	16 (29%)	13 (23%)	0.67

Note: ^*p < 0.05

^† The top section of the table presents normally distributed data as mean (SD), which were analyzed using an unpaired t-test (LDL, low-density lipoprotein)

^‡ The second section of the table contains non-normally distributed data presented as median (range), which were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U-test (HDL, high-density lipoprotein; BMI, body mass index]

^¶ Data in the third section of the table present dichotomized variables analyzed using Fisher's exact test (CAD, coronary artery disease; CVA, cerebrovascular accident; CVD, cardiovascular disease).

Figure 1.  The proportions of case (acute MI) and control (no acute MI) patients per quartile of hair cortisol concentration (x-axis; ng of cortisol/g of hair) are displayed in percentage (y-axis). Patients were divided into quartiles according to increasing hair cortisol content. This resulted in four quartiles of 28 participants each. The range of cortisol for each quartile is as follows: first (76.6–195.6 ng/g), second (197.0–252.9 ng/g), third (254.4–358.3 ng/g), and fourth (359.6–949.9 ng/g; p < 0.01, Fisher's exact test).