A Nonlinear Association between Tongue Fur Thickness and Tumor Marker Abnormality: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 2

Crude association of abnormal tumor markers with demographic, behavioral, and tongue manifestation characteristics.

Variables	Statistics	Effect size (OR, 95% CI)	value
Gender (n, %)
Male	937 (57.7%)	Reference
Female	688 (42.3%)	0.88 (0.62, 1.23)	0.453
Age (years, mean ± sd)	48.3 ± 10.4	0.99 (0.98, 1.01)	0.459
Age tertile (n, %)
Low	421 (30.0%)	Reference
Middle	476 (34.0%)	0.76 (0.50, 1.15)	0.198
High	505 (36.0%)	0.75 (0.50, 1.12)	0.161
BMI (kg/m^2, mean ± sd)	24.5 ± 3.4	0.95 (0.91, 1.00)	0.070
BMI tertile (n, %)
Low	465 (33.4%)	Reference
Middle	460 (33.0%)	0.75 (0.50, 1.13)	0.167
High	469 (33.6%)	0.70 (0.46, 1.06)	0.088
Smoking (n, %)
No	1233 (80.6%)	Reference
Yes	297 (19.4%)	1.32 (0.88, 1.98)	0.182
Drinking (n, %)
No	1299 (84.9%)	Reference
Yes	231 (15.1%)	1.87 (1.23, 2.82)	0.003
Tongue fur thickness
Thin tongue fur	534 (32.86%)	Reference
Less or peeling tongue fur	188 (11.57%)	1.79 (1.02, 3.17)	0.044
Thick tongue fur	903 (55.57%)	1.70 (1.13, 2.54)	0.010
Tongue color (n, %)
Pale red	598 (36.8%)	Reference
Pale	400 (24.6%)	0.68 (0.43, 1.06)	0.091
Red	28 (1.7%)	1.81 (0.67, 4.94)	0.244
Dull red	599 (36.9%)	0.81 (0.55, 1.19)	0.281
Form of the tongue (n, %)
Moderate	790 (48.6%)	Reference
Thin	100 (6.2%)	0.52 (0.22, 1.23)	0.137
Enlarged	735 (45.2%)	0.73 (0.51, 1.03)	0.072
Fur color (n, %)
White or colorless	1060 (65.2%)	Reference
Yellow	565 (34.8%)	1.10 (0.78, 1.56)	0.573

OR = odds ratio, CI = confidence interval, and BMI = body mass index. Bold values are considered statistically significant.