Effects of Pioglitazone on Asymmetric Dimethylarginine and Components of the Metabolic Syndrome in Nondiabetic Patients (EPICAMP Study): A Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of participants^a,b.

	Pioglitazone; (𝑛=53)	Placebo; (𝑛=51)	P value
Male sex	19 (35.8%)	25 (49.0%)	0.306
Age (years)	49.8 ± 10.05	50.9 ± 10.11	0.599
Education			0.442
Undergraduate	46 (86.8%)	44 (83.3%)
Graduate	7 (13.2%)	7 (13.7%)
Current smoker^c	10 (18.9%)	4 (7.8%)	0.108
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	30.26 ± 3.23	30.06 ± 4.20	0.809
Waist circumference (cm)	102.72 ± 9.26	101.74 ± 10.18	0.652
Waist-to-hip ratio	0.97 ± 0.07	0.96 ± 0.07	0.656
Blood pressure (mmHg)
Systolic	129.22 ± 14.87	134.23 ± 21.14	0.262
Diastolic	82.50 ± 8.33	85.64 ± 10.21	0.166
Fasting glucose (mg/dL)	94.10 ± 11.17	95.12 ± 11.20	0.106
Serum lipids (mg/dL)
Total cholesterol	204.65 ± 31.10	215.80 ± 40.41	0.184
HDL-C	42.00 ± 10.52	43.05 ± 8.68	0.631
LDL-C	110.18 ± 19.60	118.15 ± 29.54	0.185
Triglycerides	226.54 ± 145.53	202.97 ± 108.41	0.429
Liver transaminases (U/L)
ALT	29.97 ± 12.99	26.53 ± 12.09	0.232
AST	26.92 ± 6.28	25.25 ± 6.16	0.247
White blood cells (10^3/mL)	6.25 ± 1.40	6.58 ± 1.36	0.396
hs-CRP (mg/L)	3.14 ± 2.03	2.26 ± 1.25	0.070
Fasting insulin (μU/mL)	13.24 ± 5.74	13.43 ± 7.96	0.913
HOMA-IR index	3.21 ± 1.38	3.18 ± 2.05	0.937
ADMA (μm/L)	0.64 ± 0.36	0.70 ± 0.40	0.652

aData are expressed as mean ± SD for continuous variables and number (percentage) of participants for categorical variables.
^bAbbreviations are defined in the text.
^cWas defined as one who regularly smoked at least one cigarette per day.