Association between tongue pressure and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in relation to platelet levels in hypertensive elderly men: a cross-sectional study

Table 4 Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for subclinical carotid atherosclerosis based on platelet level

	Tongue pressure			p for trend	1 SD increment in tongue pressure
	T1 (low)	T2	T3 (high)	p for trend	1 SD increment in tongue pressure
Lower platelet count
No. at risk	55	64	52
No. of cases (percentage)	24 (43.6)	19 (29.7)	10 (19.2)
Crude ORs	1	0.55 (0.26, 1.16)	0.31 (0.13, 0.74)	0.007	0.55 (0.38, 0.81)
Age-adjusted ORs	1	0.60 (0.28, 1.29)	0.35 (0.14, 0.87)	0.023	0.59 (0.39, 0.87)
Multivariable ORs	1	0.61 (0.26, 1.44)	0.35 (0.13, 0.91)	0.031	0.54 (0.35, 0.85)
Higher platelet count
No. at risk	58	51	62
No. of cases (percentage)	18 (31.0)	14 (27.5)	14 (22.6)
Crude ORs	1	0.84 (0.37, 1.93)	0.65 (0.29, 1.46)	0.297	0.99 (0.72, 1.35)
Age-adjusted ORs	1	1.05 (0.44, 2.51)	1.10 (0.44, 2.79)	0.834	1.27 (0.88, 1.83)
Multivariable ORs	1	0.92 (0.37, 2.30)	1.11 (0.42, 2.29)	0.846	1.31 (0.87, 1.96)

Multivariable ORs: adjusted further for age, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, serum triglycerides, serum HDL-cholesterol, antilipidemic medication use, HbA1c, and eGFR. Tongue pressure level tertiles: < 28.7 kPa, 28.7–36.4 kPa, and > 36.4 kPa. Lower platelet count is defined as < 21.4 × 10⁴/μL. Subclinical carotid atherosclerosis is defined as a carotid intima-media thickness ≥ 1.1 mm. SD standard deviation. A 1 SD increment in tongue pressure is 10.4 kPa

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