Table 1.
Anamnestic, clinical, and laboratory findings in STEC-positive versus STEC-negative ED patients. STEC-negative cohort was subdivided into patients without microbiological finding of fecal pathogens and those having enteropathogens other than STEC.
| STEC-positive (n = 105) | STEC-negative | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 140) | p | Without stool pathogen (n = 115) | p | Other stool pathogens (n = 25) | p | ||
| Anthropometric and anamnestic parameter | |||||||
|
| |||||||
| Age (years, mean ± SD) | 52.4 ± 20.2 | 43.1 ± 19.1 | <0.001 | 43.5 ± 19.3 | 0.001 | 41.3 ± 18.4 | 0.614 |
| BMI (kg/m², mean ± SD) | 25.5 ± 5.5 | 25.5 ± 4.5 | 0.976 | 25.0 ± 4.4 | 0.531 | 27.6 ± 4.8 | 0.028 |
| Female (% of patients) | 57.1 | 63.6 | 0.308 | 64.3 | 0.274 | 60.0 | 0.682 |
| Smoker (% of patients) | 23.0 | 32.5 | 0.140 | 33.7 | 0.113 | 27.3 | 0.563 |
| Start of symptoms (% of patients) | |||||||
| May 2011 | 90.3 | 43.2 | <0.001 | 41.7 | <0.001 | 50.0 | 0.643 |
| June/July 2011 | 9.7 | 55.4 | 56.2 | 50.0 | |||
| Defecation rate > 10/d (% of pat.) | 56.9 | 23.2 | <0.001 | 17.6 | <0.001 | 52.9 | 0.005 |
| Faeces “bloody” (% of patients) | 86.4 | 58.7 | <0.001 | 63.2 | <0.001 | 37.5 | 0.020 |
| Nausea (% of patients) | 50.0 | 55.0 | 0.451 | 51.4 | 0.839 | 70.8 | 0.085 |
| Vomiting (% of patients) | 42.2 | 34.6 | 0.232 | 28.6 | 0.037 | 62.5 | 0.002 |
| Abdominal pain (% of patients) | 92.0 | 83.6 | 0.057 | 80.9 | 0.020 | 95.8 | 0.074 |
| Pain at lower abdomen (% of patients) | 71.0 | 41.0 | <0.001 | 40.1 | <0.001 | 41.7 | 0.283 |
| Fever (>38°C; % of patients) | 4.0 | 9.4 | 0.113 | 7.0 | 0.347 | 20.8 | 0.035 |
|
| |||||||
| Clinical findings | |||||||
|
| |||||||
| Body temperature (°C, mean ± SD) | 37.1 ± 0.5 | 37.1 ± 0.7 | 0.682 | 37.0 ± 0.7 | 0.210 | 37.4 ± 0.7 | 0.012 |
| Blood pressure (mmHg, mean ± SD) | |||||||
| Systolic | 133 ± 20 | 131 ± 22 | 0.468 | 132 ± 23 | 0.617 | 129 ± 20 | 0.554 |
| Diastolic | 78 ± 11 | 76 ± 11 | 0.141 | 77 ± 12 | 0.318 | 74 ± 9 | 0.202 |
| Heart rate (min−1, mean ± SD) | 80.4 ± 16.2 | 81.1 ± 15.8 | 0.758 | 79.9 ± 15.7 | 0.824 | 87.5 ± 15.2 | 0.060 |
| Abdominal tenderness (% of patients) | 65.6 | 40.9 | <0.001 | 39.1 | <0.001 | 50.0 | 0.342 |
| Tenderness lower abdomen (% of patients) | 56.3 | 26.2 | <0.001 | 21.7 | <0.001 | 36.4 | 0.651 |
| Bowel sounds present (% of patients) | 96.9 | 98.4 | 0.474 | 90.4 | 0.169 | 90.9 | 0.003 |
| Signs of dehydration (% of patients) | 31.9 | 18.0 | 0.016 | 12.3 | 0.001 | 45.5 | <0.001 |
|
| |||||||
| Laboratory findings | |||||||
|
| |||||||
| Total leukocytes (/µL, mean ± SD) | 10725 ± 4286 | 9467 ± 3737 | 0.019 | 9230 ± 3712 | 0.009 | 10431 ± 3754 | 0.151 |
| Creatinine (µmol/L, mean ± SD) | 116.7 ± 150.1 | 71.3 ± 18.7 | 0.001 | 70.7 ± 16.5 | 0.002 | 73.8 ± 26.2 | 0.464 |
| LDH (U/L, mean ± SD) | 270.3 ± 334.2 | 172.3 ± 42.4 | 0.001 | 170.5 ± 41.7 | 0.003 | 179.5 ± 45.6 | 0.354 |
| Total bilirubin (µmol/L, mean ± SD) | 18.2 ± 25.7 | 10.4 ± 7.7 | 0.002 | 9.4 ± 5.1 | 0.001 | 14.9 ± 13.4 | 0.002 |
| CRP (mg/L, mean ± SD) | 25.6 ± 33.4 | 27.3 ± 52.7 | 0.775 | 15.4 ± 32.2 | 0.032 | 74.8 ± 84.4 | <0.001 |
| Thrombocytes (/nL, mean ± SD) | 207 ± 79.0 | 221 ± 65.8 | 0.130 | 227 ± 53.5 | 0.040 | 197 ± 64.3 | 0.018 |
| Hemoglobin (g/L, mean ± SD) | 135 ± 24.9 | 137 ± 19.8 | 0.446 | 136 ± 19.9 | 0.686 | 141 ± 19.2 | 0.260 |
| Hematocrit (/L/L, mean ± SD) | 0.40 ± 0.1 | 0.41 ± 0.1 | 0.352 | 0.40 ± 0.0 | 0.567 | 0.42 ± 0.1 | 0.233 |