A Nonlinear Association between Tongue Fur Thickness and Tumor Marker Abnormality: A Cross-Sectional Study
Table 1
Baseline characteristics of 1625 participants according to tongue fur thickness.
Characteristics
Total
Tongue fur thickness
value
Thin (normal)
Less or peeling
Thick
Number
1625
534
188
903
Age (years, mean ± sd)
48.2 ± 10.4
48.0 ± 10.1
47.1 ± 10.3
48.6 ± 10.5
0.224
BMI (kg/m2, mean ± sd)
24.5 ± 3.4
24.8 ± 3.4
24.4 ± 3.3
24.4 ± 3.4
0.076
Gender (n, %)
0.115
Male
937 (57.7%)
326 (61.0%)
110 (58.5%)
501 (55.5%)
Female
688 (42.3%)
208 (39.0%)
78 (41.5%)
402 (44.5%)
Smoking (n, %)
0.331
No
1233 (80.6%)
402 (81.5%)
136 (84.0%)
695 (79.4%)
Yes
297 (19.4%)
91 (18.5%)
26 (16.0%)
180 (20.6%)
Drinking (n, %)
0.590
No
1299 (84.9%)
413 (83.8%)
136 (84.0%)
750 (85.7%)
Yes
231 (15.1%)
80 (16.2%)
26 (16.0%)
125 (14.3%)
Tongue color (n, %)
0.603
Pale red
598 (36.8%)
201 (37.6%)
72 (38.3%)
325 (36.0%)
Pale
400 (24.6%)
125 (23.4%)
38 (20.2%)
237 (26.2%)
Red
28 (1.7%)
10 (1.9%)
2 (1.1%)
16 (1.8%)
Dull red
599 (36.9%)
198 (37.1%)
76 (40.4%)
325 (36.0%)
Form of the tongue (n, %)
0.022
Moderate
790 (48.6%)
270 (50.6%)
85 (45.2%)
435 (48.2%)
Thin
100 (6.2%)
34 (6.4%)
3 (1.6%)
63 (7.0%)
Enlarged
735 (45.2%)
230 (43.1%)
100 (53.2%)
405 (44.9%)
Fur color (n, %)
< 0.001
White or colorless
1060 (65.2%)
385 (72.1%)
147 (78.2%)
528 (58.5%)
Yellow
565 (34.8%)
149 (27.9%)
41 (21.8%)
375 (41.5%)
Tumor marker abnormality (n, %)
Overall
152 (9.4%)
35 (6.6%)
21 (11.4%)
96 (10.6%)
0.024
t-PSA
21 (2.5%)
8 (2.8%)
3 (3.0%)
10 (2.2%)
0.838
AFP
51 (3.6%)
14 (3.0%)
9 (5.4%)
28 (3.6%)
0.366
CEA
57 (4.0%)
13 (2.8%)
9 (5.4%)
35 (4.5%)
0.231
CA125
24 (3.4%)
5 (2.4%)
3 (3.8%)
16 (3.7%)
0.666
CA199
29 (2.0%)
5 (1.1%)
5 (3.0%)
19 (2.4%)
0.178
The amount of missing data for the characteristics are as follows: 223 (13.7%) for age, 229 (14.1%) for BMI, 95 (5.8%) for smoking history, and 95 (5.8%) for drinking history. Bold values are considered statistically significant. BMI = body mass index.
