Table 2. Comparison of patients admitted to the intensive care unit and the basic care unit.

		ICU (n=140)	BCU (n=269)	p
Variables
	Age (years)	66 (53–74)	59 (42.2–71.7)	<0.001
	Hospitalization length in days	19 (11–28)	8 (5.2–12)	<0.001
	Days from symptoms to admission	7 (3–11)	7 (3–10)	0.608
	BMI (kg/m²)	26.5 (23.7–31.0)	28.0 (23.6–32.4)	0.524
	Glucose (mg/dL)	184 (133–241)	140 (118–200)	<0.001
	Impairment on chest CT (%)	75 (50–75)	50 (25–60)	<0.001
	Daily dose of systemic glucocorticoid (mg)	39.4 (14.3–70.3)	6 (6–14.7)	<0.001
	Systemic glucocorticoids therapy length in days	11 (6–17)	6 (4–8)	<0.001
Laboratory findings on hospital admission
	Hemoglobin (g/dL)	13.0 (11.3–14.0)	13.1 (11.8–14.4)	0.056
	Hematocrit (%)	38.6 (34.0–41.9)	39.2 (34.9–42.8)	0.141
	Lymphocytes (μL)	983 (744–1,434)	1,313 (982–1,796)	<0.001
	Platelets (μL)	217,000 (155,000–287,000)	238,000 (184,000–303,000)	0.021
	Urea (mg/dL)	56 (37–104)	36 (25–54)	<0.001
	Creatinine (mg/dL)	1.13 (0.88–1.70)	0.90 (0.70–1.17)	<0.001
	CRP (mg/L)	234 (104–9,347)	172 (58–7,750)	0.183
Laboratory findings on the fifth day of hospitalization
	Hemoglobin (g/dL)	11.5 (9.5–13.1)	12.8 (11.5–14.2)	<0.001
	Hematocrit (%)	35.3 (29.3–39.5)	37.5 (33.8–42.3)	<0.001
	Lymphocytes (μL)	900 (555–1,500)	1,629 (1,141–2,329)	<0.001
	Platelets (μL)	235,000 (143,000–357,000)	270,000 (192,000–377,000)	0.005
	Urea (mg/dL)	90 (50–149)	45 (32–64)	<0.001
	Creatinine (mg/dL)	1.16 (0.88–2.03)	0.95 (0.76–1.11)	<0.001
	CRP (mg/L)	51.8 (22.6–133)	30.9 (10.3–88.4)	0.001
	Death (%)	62.8	12.2	<0.001

BMI: body mass index; CRP: C-reactive protein; ICU: intensive care unit; BCU: basic care unit; CT: computed tomography. Median (interquartile range). Bold values indicate statistical significance at the p<0.05 level.