Table 2.

Hospital Mortality and Diagnosis of CIRCI, by Type of Induction Agent

	Etomidate	Other Agent	Crude Relative Risk (95% CI)	Adjusted Relative Risk (95% CI)*
Hospital mortality, no. (%)	175 (38.7)	108 (29.0)	1.33 (1.09–1.62)	1.20 (0.99–1.45)
Diagnosis of CIRCI following intubation, no. (%)†	140 (62.5)	74 (47.1)	1.33 (1.09–1.61)	1.37 (1.12–1.66)
Non-responsiveness‡ to cosyntropin following intubation, no. (%)§	127 (56.4)	57 (36.0)	1.59 (1.25–2.01)	1.59 (1.26–2.00)

^*Adjusted for age, sex, and Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II).

^†Restricted to the 412 subjects whose adrenal function was tested within the 48 hours following intubation, of whom 31 had baseline cortisol ≥ 10 μg/dL and Δ max of ≤ 9 μg/dL but were missing data for their 60-min post-stimulation reading, precluding definitive diagnosis of CIRCI. We omitted those subjects. Including them by using their 30-min result provided an adjusted relative risk of 1.37 (95% CI 1.12–1.68).

^‡Non-responsiveness was defined as a Δ max of ≤ 9 μg/dL following administration of cosyntropin.

^§Restricted to the 412 subjects whose adrenal function was tested within the 48 hours following intubation, of whom 29 subjects had 30-min results of ≤ 9 μg/dL but were missing data for their 60-min post-stimulation reading, precluding definitive diagnosis of non-responsiveness. We omitted those subjects. Including them by using their 30-min result provided an adjusted relative risk of 1.46 (95% CI 1.19–1.78).

CIRCI = critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency, defined as a random total cortisol < 10 μg/dL and/or a Δ max cortisol following cosyntropin administration of < 9 μg/dL