Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients, grouped by intervention or nutritional risk.
| All | Control | Intervention | Low-Risk | High-Risk | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 132 | N = 63 | N = 69 | p † | N = 39 | N = 93 | p † | |
| Demographic characteristics, mean (SD) or median (IQR) | |||||||
| Age (years) | 71.0 (14.7) | 69.2 (11.9) | 72.6 (12.0) | 0.101 | 63.7 (10.0) | 74.1 (11.5) | 0.000 |
| Gender(female), n (%) | 57 (5.50) | 28.0 (44.4) | 29.0 (42.0) | 0.780 | 14.0 (35.9) | 43.0 (46.2) | 0.327 |
| Body weight (kg) | 60.5 (7.0) | 60.9 (15.0) | 60.2 (14.5) | 0.763 | 61.2 (14.9) | 60.2 (14.7) | 0.720 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 23.3 (44.40) | 23.2 (5.9) | 23.3 (5.2) | 0.932 | 22.9 (5.5) | 23.4 (5.6) | 0.619 |
| APACHE II | 21.8 (2.0) | 21.4 (7.5) | 22.0 (6.6) | 0.636 | 14.8 (4.7) | 24.7 (5.7) | 0.000 |
| PSI score | 133.9 (3.0) | 133.4 (47.7) | 134.4 (41.6) | 0.902 | 108.3 (31.9) | 144.7 (44.7) | 0.000 |
| CURB-65 score | 2.0 (3.0) | 2.0 (1.0) | 2.0 (2.0) | 0.149 | 1.0 (1.0) | 2.0 (2.0) | 0.000 |
| Charlson comorbidity index | 5.0 (14.7) | 5.0 (4.0) | 5.0 (3.0) | 0.804 | 4.0 (2.0) | 6.0 (4.0) | 0.000 |
| mNUTRIC score | 6.0 (5.5) | 6 (3.0) | 6.0 (3.0) | 0.776 | 3.0 (1.0) | 6.0 (2.0) | 0.000 |
| Site of suspected infection, n (%) | |||||||
| Lung | 109 (82.6) | 53 (84.1) | 56 (81.2) | 0.655 | 27 (69.2) | 82 (88.2) | 0.009 |
| Intra-abdomen | 6 (4.5) | 2 (3.2) | 4 (5.8) | 0.472 | 1 (2.6) | 5 (5.4) | 0.481 |
| UTI | 93 (70.5) | 40. (63.5) | 53 (76.8) | 0.095 | 26 (66.7) | 67 (72.0) | 0.538 |
| Bacteremia | 71 (53.8) | 31 (49.2) | 40 (58.0) | 0.315 | 23 (59.0) | 48 (51.6) | 0.441 |
| Others | 5 (3.8) | 4 (6.3) | 1 (1.4) | 0.142 | 3 (7.7) | 2 (2.2) | 0.130 |
| Comorbidities, n (%) | |||||||
| Coronary artery disease, | 23 (17.4) | 11 (17.5) | 12 (17.4) | 0.992 | 4 (10.3) | 19 (20.4) | 0.161 |
| Hypertension | 76 (57.6) | 36 (57.1) | 40 (58.0) | 0.924 | 17 (43.6) | 59 (63.4) | 0.036 |
| COPD | 15 (11.4) | 9 (14.3) | 6 (8.7) | 0.314 | 3 (7.7) | 12 (12.9) | 0.391 |
| Cancer | 44 (33.3) | 26 (41.3) | 18 (26.1) | 0.066 | 13 (33.3) | 31 (33.3) | 1.000 |
| Liver cirrhosis | 6 (4.5) | 3 (4.8) | 3 (4.3) | 0.910 | 1 (2.6) | 5 (5.4) | 0.481 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 65 (49.2) | 29 (46.0) | 36 (52.2) | 0.482 | 13 (33.3) | 52 (55.9) | 0.018 |
| CKD | 43 (32.6) | 22 (34.9) | 21 (30.4) | 0.584 | 7 (17.9) | 36 (38.7) | 0.021 |
† Comparison analyses between two groups by Mann–Whitney U tests or chi-squared tests for categorical variables. Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; IQR, interquartile range; BMI, body mass index; APACHE, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation; PSI, pneumonia severity index, CURB-65: Confusion, blood urea > 42.8 mg/dL, respiratory rate > 30/min, blood pressure < 90/60 mmHg, age > 65; mNUTRIC, modified nutrition risk in critically ill; UTI: urinary tract infection; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CKD, chronic kidney disease.