Table 1.

Patient characteristics at intensive care unit admission

	All patients (n = 71)	Nongradual VAP (n = 28)	Gradual VAP (n = 43)	p Value
Age, years	61 [53–71.5]	60 [54.5–73]	63 [50–71]	0.874
Male sex	45 (63 %)	15 (53 %)	30 (70 %)	0.166
Smoking	29 (41 %)	9 (32 %)	20 (46 %)	0.229
Alcohol	14 (20 %)	9 (32 %)	5 (12 %)	0.034
APACHE II score	23 [18.5–28.5]	21.5 [18.5–25.5]	25 [18.5–31.5]	0.166
Comorbidities
Hypertension	32 (45 %)	12 (43 %)	20 (46 %)	0.762
Diabetes mellitus	17 (24 %)	8 (28 %)	9 (21 %)	0.461
Chronic cardiac failure	3 (4 %)	0	3 (7 %)	0.171
Chronic renal failure	8 (11 %)	2 (7 %)	6 (14 %)	0.466
Chronic lung disease/COPD	11 (15 %)	3 (11 %)	8 (19 %)	0.469
Immunosuppression	22 (31 %)	8 (29 %)	14 (32 %)	0.723
Reason for intubation
Respiratory failure	29 (41 %)	11 (39 %)	18 (42 %)	0.754
Cardiovascular failure	12 (17 %)	5 (18 %)	7 (16 %)	0.488
Coma	30 (42 %)	12 (43 %)	18 (42 %)	0.813
SOFA	11 [7.5–12.5]	11 [7–13]	11 [8–12]	0.928
CPIS	4 [3.5–5]	4 [3.5–5]	4 [3–5]	0.431
PaO2/FiO2	195 [100–250]	175 [120.5–250]	200 [69.5–250]	0.816
Temperature, °C	36.3 [36–36.9]	36.2 [36–36.9]	36.5 [36–36.9]	0.815
Leukocytes, cells/mm3	11,100 [9150–14,900]	11,100 [10600–12,300]	11,750 [8500–20,800]	0.729
CRP, mg/L	28 [0.5–104]	111 [6–250]	19 [0.5–70.2]	0.165
PCT, ng/ml	0.26 [0.01–1.44]	0.39 [0.01–1.44]	0.17 [0.01–0.76]	0.743

APACHE II Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, SOFA sepsis organ failure score, CPIS Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score, CRP C-reactive protein, PCT procalcitonin, PaO ₂ /FiO ₂ ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen

Results are expressed as median [interquartile range] for continuous variables and number (%) for categorical variables