Higher Cortisol Predicts Less Improvement in Verbal Memory Performance after Cardiac Rehabilitation in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Table 1

Subject demographics and clinical characteristics (𝑛=56)¹.

	Normal cortisol (𝑛=26)	High cortisol; (𝑛=30)	Statistic; (𝐹 or 𝜒^2)	𝑃 value^2  (𝑃≤0.05)*
Sociodemographics
Age, years, mean (SD)	67 (12)	65 (11)	0.62	0.43
Gender, % male (𝑛)	92.3 (24)	80 (24)	1.72	0.19
Marital status, % married (𝑛)	88.5 (23)	73.3 (22)	1.62	0.20
Ethnicity, % Caucasian (𝑛)	84.6 (22)	93.3 (28)	1.02	0.31
Employment, % employed (𝑛)	42.3 (11)	30 (9)	0.03	0.86
Total education, years, mean (SD)	16.5 (3)	17 (3.5)	0.59	0.45
Time since acute coronary event (wks)	21.3 (40.9)	28.4 (77.9)	0.18	0.68
Vascular risk factors, % (𝑛)
Hypertension	53.8 (14)	63.3 (19)	0.52	0.47
Hyperlipidemia	100 (26)	100 (30)	—	—
Diabetes	7.7 (2)	16.7 (5)	1.03	0.31
BMI, kg/m^2, mean (SD)	27.1 (5.0)	27.4 (3.5)	0.10	0.75
Waist, cm, mean (SD)	96.2 (10.1)	98.8 (8.8)	1.13	0.29
Cardiac history, % (𝑛)
PCI	57.7 (15)	43.3 (13)	1.15	0.28
CABG	23.1 (6)	50 (15)	4.31	0.04*
MI	57.7 (15)	40 (12)	1.75	0.19
Cardiopulmonary fitness parameters
Maximum heart rate, bpm, mean (SD)	118.0 (18.1)	121.2 (21.7)	0.36	0.55
Maximum systolic blood pressure,; mm Hg, mean (SD)	175.7 (23.5)	176.6 (27.0)	0.02	0.90
Maximum diastolic blood pressure,; mm Hg, mean (SD)	76.2 (9.0)	79.9 (11.1)	1.86	0.18
Maximal oxygen uptake, mL/kg/min, mean (SD)	19.7 (4.5)	19.6 (4.6)	0.001	0.98
Concomitant medications, % (𝑛)
Beta-blocker	80.8 (21)	70 (21)	0.86	0.35
Calcium channel blocker	26.9 (7)	10 (3)	2.72	0.10
Diuretics	23.1 (6)	20 (6)	0.08	0.78
Antihypertensives	50 (13)	63.3 (19)	1.01	0.32
Statins	100 (26)	100 (30)	—	—
Antidiabetics	3.8 (1)	16.7 (5)	2.39	0.12
Antidepressants	3.8 (1)	10 (3)	0.80	0.37
Anxiolytics	11.5 (3)	3.3 (1)	1.41	0.23
Psychosocial assessments
PSS, average over one year (SD)	19.8 (11.4)	18.6 (10.7)	0.16	0.69
Depression, % (𝑛)	26.9 (7)	30 (9)	0.07	0.80

¹PCI: percutaneous coronary intervention; CABG: coronary artery bypass graft; MI: myocardial infarction; bpm: beats per minute; PSS: perceived stress scale.
²Two-tailed significance in Pearsons 𝜒² or one-way ANOVA.