Demographic data for the recruited individuals.

BMI, body mass index; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglyceride. Age, SBP, DBP, TC, TG, LDL-C and HDL-C (expressed as mean ± standard deviation) were not normally distributed and were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U-test. BMI (expressed as mean ± standard deviation) was normally distributed and was analyzed by Student’s t-test. Other data are expressed as frequencies and percentages and were evaluated by the χ2-test.