Table 1 Characteristics of study population by circulating CD34-positive cell  levels

No. of participants

240

237

Age, years

65.3 ± 2.7

65.6 ± 2.5

Systolic blood pressure, mmHg

135 ± 17

134 ± 18

0.552

Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg

81 ± 11

81 ± 12

0.852

Antihypertensive medication use, %

47.1

38.4

0.031

Body mass index (BMI), kg/m²

23.9 ± 2.8

22.7 ± 3.0

<0.001

Current drinker, %

87.9

87.8

0.954

Current smoker, %

14.2

11.8

0.496

Serum HDL-cholesterol (HDL), mg/dL

57 ± 14

58 ± 13

0.390

Serum LDL-cholesterol (LDL), mg/dL

119 ± 29

110 ± 28

<0.001

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), %

5.8 ± 0.7

5.6 ± 0.5

<0.001

Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), IU/L

25 ± 8

26 ± 9

0.282

Serum γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (γ-GTP), IU/L

52 ± 83

47 ± 40

0.370

Serum uric acid (UA), mg/dL

5.9 ± 1.1

5.8 ± 1.2

0.312

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR), mL/min/1.73 m²

76.9 ± 11.2

76.0 ± 12.9

0.926

White blood cells (WBC), cells/μL

6043 ± 1266

4993 ± 1278

<0.001