A/A A/G + G/G P* value Age (years) 56.1 ±11.3 59.0 ±11.8 0.007 Gender (% males) 49.3 51.9 0.592 Ethnicity (% black) 22.7 16.6 0.076 Age at diagnosis (years) 46.2 ±11.3 47.6 ±12.4 0.284 BMI (kg/m²) 28.9 ±5.2 28.6 ±5 0.594 HbA1c (%; mmol/L) 7.2 ±2.2 (55 ±17) 6.8 ±2.1 (51 ±16) 0.166 Systolic BP (mmHg) 142.2 ±24.1 143.3 ±24.8 0.653 Diastolic BP (mmHg) 85.8 ±14.3 84.6 ±12.6 0.407 Total cholesterol (mmol/L) 5.3 ±1.3 5.4 ±1.2 0.557 HDL cholesterol (mmol/L) 2.2 ±0.6 2.4 ±1.1 0.250 Triglycerides (mmol/L) 3.6 (1.1 – 18.6) 3.3 (1.5 –7.7) 0.836 Diabetic nephropathy (%) 52.2 51.2 0.916 Diabetic retinopathy (%) 49.6 49.4 0.999

Data are mean ± SD, median (minimum-maximum values) or %. BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; HbA1c, glycated hemoglobin; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus. *P values are according to Χ2 test or t-test as appropriate. Only P values lower than the Bonferroni threshold (P = 0.0038) were considered statistically significant.

Table 3: Clinical and laboratory characteristics of T2DM patients, broken down by the presence of the G allele of the TLR4 Asp299Gly polymorphism (dominant model).