Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of study patients, C-reactive protein value, eosinophil count and leucocyte count in the diagnostic classes of patients on admission to the intensive care unit
| Parameter | Total (n = 177) | Negative group (n = 37) | SIRS (n = 20) | Infected group (n = 120) | P value* |
| Age (years) | 42 ± 19 | 38 ± 20 | 35 ± 18 | 44 ± 18 | 0.077 |
| Male gender (n (%)) | 101 (57) | 19 (51) | 12 (60) | 70 (58) | 0.726 |
| Mc Cabe index (n (%)) | 0.578 | ||||
| Nonfatal disease | 138 (78) | 31 (84) | 16 (80) | 91 (76) | |
| Ultimately and rapidly fatal disease | 39 (22) | 6 (16) | 4 (20) | 29 (24) | |
| Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score | 12 ± 7 | 7 ± 5 | 9 ± 5 | 13 ± 6 | <0.001 |
| Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score | 3 (1 to 8) | 0 (0 to 2) | 1 (0 to 4) | 3 (1 to 6) | 0.002 |
| ICU length of stay (days) | 5 (3 to 10) | 3 (2 to 5) | 6 (2 to 10) | 7 (4 to 11) | 0.001 |
| Sites of infection (n (%)) | |||||
| Respiratory tract | 72 (60) | ||||
| Urinary tract | 25 (21) | ||||
| Meningitis | 16 (13) | ||||
| Other | 7 (6) | ||||
| ICU mortality (n (%)) | 58 (33) | 3 (8) | 5 (25) | 50 (42) | <0.001 |
| Leucocyte count (cells/mm3) | 13,666 ± 7,497 | 11,305 ± 5,136 | 14,595 ± 6,399 | 14,169 ± 8,113 | 0.128 |
| Eosinophil count (cells/mm3) | 13 (0 to 83) | 146 (54 to 250) | 22 (13 to 85) | 8 (0 to 36) | <0.001 |
| C-reactive protein (mg/l) | 84 (31 to 155) | 19 (36 to 79) | 59 (16 to 84) | 108 (58 to 197) | <0.001 |
Data are expressed as median (interquartile range) or as mean ± standard deviation. *P values are from the chi-squared test, one-way analysis of variance, or the Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the differences between the three groups. ICU, intensive care unit; SIRS, systemic inflammatory response syndrome group.