Demographic characteristics of study participants by sex
| Characteristics | Men, n=15 | Women, n=10 | P value |
| Age (years) | 66.47±7.25 | 59.30±12.60 | 0.15 |
| BSA | 2.16±0.27 | 1.84±0.24 | 0.02 |
| Valve area/BSA ratio | 1.16±0.20 | 1.19±0.20 | 0.66 |
| Mechanical valve type | |||
| On-X | 0 | 1 (10%) | 0.36 |
| St Jude | 11 (73%) | 7 (70%) | |
| Medtronic | 1 (7%) | 2 (20%) | |
| >1 Prosthetic valves | 3 (20%) | 0 | |
| Prosthetic valve location | |||
| Mitral | 1 (7%) | 2 (20%) | 0.66 |
| Aorta | 11 (73%) | 7 (70%) | |
| >1 Location | 3 (20%) | 1 (10%) | |
| Mean arterial pressure | |||
| Right | 88.71±11.75 | 83.00±7.51 | 0.27 |
| Left | 88.84±11.91 | 82.67±5.96 | 0.18 |
| Smoking | |||
| Current smokers | 2 (13%) | 1 (10%) | 0.84 |
| Ex-smokers | 10 (67%) | 6 (60%) | |
| Lifelong non-smokers | 3 (20%) | 3 (30%) | |
| Atrial fibrillation | 6 (40%) | 4 (44%) | >0.99 |
| Warfarin and aspirin | 8 (53%) | 7 (70%) | 0.68 |
| tHcy | 9.55±3.66 | 7.57±2.72 | 0.24 |
| INR | 2.66±0.52 | 2.80±0.28 | 0.32 |
| INR ranges | |||
| <2 | 1 (7%) | 0 | >0.99 |
| 2–3 | 11 (73%) | 8 (80%) | |
| >3 | 3 (20%) | 2 (20%) | |
Continuous variables shown as mean±SD; categorical variables as n (%).
BSA, body surface area; INR, international normalised ratio; tHcy, total homocysteine.