Fig. 1.

Serum osteopontin concentrations of critically ill patients at ICU admission. a Serum OPN concentrations at admission to the medical ICU were determined by ELISA and revealed significantly (p <0.001, U test) higher OPN levels in critically ill patients as compared with healthy controls. b Serum OPN levels at admission to the medical ICU are significantly (p = 0.005, U test) elevated in critically ill patients with high initial Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scores (>10) compared to patients with low APACHE II scores (≤10). c Serum OPN concentrations at admission to the ICU are significantly lower in patients with type 2 diabetes. d Serum OPN concentrations at admission to the medical ICU are independent of the presence of obesity in critically ill patients. e Patients that fulfilled sepsis criteria displayed no further increases in OPN serum levels at admission to the medical ICU. f OPN serum concentrations did not differ with regard to the disease aetiology in critically ill patients. pulmo, pulmonal; abd, abdominal; uro, urological; cirrh, cirrhosis; c.p., cardiopulmonary. Box plot are displayed, where the bold line indicates the median per group, the box represents 50 % of the values, and horizontal lines show minimum and maximum values of the calculated non-outlier values; asterisks and open circles indicate outlier values. ^* p <0.05, ^** p <0.01, ^*** p <0.001. ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ICU intensive care unit, OPN osteopontin