Decrease of serum carnitine levels in patients with or without gastrointestinal cancer cachexia

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population (mean ± SD)

Parameter	Cachectic patients with gastrointestinal cancer (30)	Cachectic patients without gastrointestinal cancer (25)	Non cachectic patients with cancer(60)	Healthy subjects(30)
Sex M/F	16/14	13/12	25/35	15/15
Mean age (yr)	47.4 ± 7.6	49.1 ± 6.4	48.6 ± 8.4	51.3 ± 5.2
Heigth (cm)	158.9 ± 6.8	160.6 ± 7.1	159.4 ± 7.8	160.2 ± 6.4
Weigth (kg)	46.8 ± 7.6	51.4 ± 6.9	60.2 ± 7.4	63.8 ± 11.3
SAP (mmHg)	151.8 ± 12.4	156 ± 13.2	152.4 ± 14.7	150.3 ± 16.8
DAP (mmHg)	84.2 ± 8.7	86.4 ± 7.1	80.1 ± 9.7	80.2 ± 10.6
Heat Rate bpm	94.2 ± 9.8	86.2 ± 11.1	84.2 ± 7.1	81.2 ± 10.2

Table 2 Laboratory parameters of subjects included in our study (mean ± SD)

Parameter	Group 1(30 pts)	Group 2(25 pts)	Group 3 (60 pts)	Group 4(30 pts)
Bun (mg/dL)	35.6 ± 5.4	38.2 ± 5.1	41.4 ± 4.7	32.8 ± 7.9
Glucose (mg/dL)	68.4 ± 9.1	67.9 ± 8.7	75.4 ± 9.1	71.2 ± 9.4
Creatinine (mg/dL)	0.87 ± 0.37	0.91 ± 0.25	1.06 ± 0.20	0.97 ± 0.21
Total Cholesterol (mg/dL)	160.1 ± 13.9	166.9 ± 14.2	194.2 ± 8.7	187.7 ± 10.8
Triglycerides (mg/dL)	144.3 ± 13.2	156.8 ± 10.9	175.6 ± 9.6	170.1 ± 9.8
ALT (IU/L)	49.7 ± 9.8	45.4 ± 7.9	46.1 ± 7.8	36.7 ± 4.4
AST (IU/L)	51.4 ± 8.9	48.7 ± 7.4	42.8 ± 9.6	35.8 ± 6.7
ALP (IU/L)	241.8 ± 22.6	215.1 ± 20.7	196 ± 16.4	165 ± 18.2
CEA (ng/mL)	847.2 ± 196.4	44.6 ± 13.1	31.6 ± 15.8	2.1 ± 1.4