Table 1. Patient characteristics at admission.

	Control (n = 10)	SIRS (n = 20)	Sepsis (n = 14)	Severe sepsis/septic shock (n = 18)	P value
Age (years)	61.5 (55.0 to 64.5)	60.9 ± 17.3	74.0 (54.0 to 81.5)	69.8 ± 11.9	0.2225 a
Male gender [n (%)]	5 (50.0%)	12 (60.0%)	8 (57.1%)	11 (61.1%)	0.9526 b
SOFA score	No data	2 (1 to 4)	2.1 ± 1.4	7.9 ± 3.7	< 0.0001 a
APACHE II score	No data	9.3 ± 4.5	11.6 ± 7.1	22.7 ± 7.9	< 0.0001 c
MEDS score	No data	3 (3 to 6)	5.6 ± 3.4	10.8 ± 4.6	< 0.0001 a
28-day mortality rate [n (%)]	No data	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (27.8%)	0.0041 b

APACHE: Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation; MEDS: mortality in emergency department sepsis; SIRS: systemic inflammatory response syndrome; SOFA: sequential organ failure assessment.

^aKruskal–Wallis test,

^bFisher’s exact test,

^cWelch’s ANOVA.