Association of hemoglobin concentration with handgrip strength in relation to hepatocyte growth factor levels among elderly Japanese men aged 60–69 years: a cross-sectional study

Table 1 Characteristics of the low and high (HGF) level groups of the study population

	Low HGF (≤ 300.6 pg/mL)	High HGF (> 300.6 pg/mL)	p
No. of participants	128	127
Age, years	65.4 ± 2.5	65.4 ± 2.6	0.926
Systolic blood pressure (SBP), mmHg	135 ± 18	137 ± 17	0.299
Diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mmHg	85 ± 12	85 ± 11	0.691
Body mass index (BMI), kg/m²	23.1 ± 2.8	24.2 ± 3.0	0.002
Serum triglycerides (TG), mg/dL	84 [66–119]^*	103 [75–134]^*	0.012^**
Serum HDL-cholesterol (HDLc), mg/dL	60 ± 14	55 ± 14	0.007
Serum γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (γ-GTP), U/L	31 [20–46]^*	36 [24–59]^*	0.020^**
Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), %	5.6 ± 0.6	5.7 ± 0.7	0.312
Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), mL/min/1.73m²	74.5 ± 13.2	71.7 ± 13.8	0.104
White blood cell (WBC), cells/μL	5466 ± 1492	5981 ± 1349	0.004
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), pg/mL	221.0 [177.9–262.9]^*	422.4 [357.1–536.8]^*	< 0.001^**
Handgrip strength, kg	38.8 ± 6.4	38.6 ± 5.6	0.842
Hemoglobin, g/dL	14.5 ± 1.1	14.8 ± 1.1	0.032

Values: mean ± standard deviation
*Median values [first quartile, third quartile]. Regression model for mean values was used for determining p values
**Logarithmic transformation was used for evaluating p

ISSN: 1347-4715