Table 4.

Areas under the curve of variable parameters for determining the severity of CAP

Parameter	Cut-off value	AUC	Sensitivity	Specificity	p value	95% CI
						Lower limit	Higher limit
Sphinganine (μg/ml)	> 0.029	0.821	0.737	0.844	< 0.001	0.698	0.943
DHEA-S (μg/ml)	< 0.431	0.763	0.895	0.625	0.002	0.631	0.896
Lactate (μg/ml)	> 120.021	0.771	0.789	0.687	0.001	0.637	0.905
Three metabolite combination	–	0.911	0.837	0.969	< 0.001	0.825	0.998
ESR	–	0.748	0.706	0.905	0.009	0.565	0.931
CRP	–	0.749	0.706	0.870	0.004	0.582	0.917
PCT	–	0.832	0.875	0.875	< 0.001	0.654	1.000
CURB-65	–	0.764	0.789	0.719	0.002	0.625	0.903
PSI	–	0.854	0.737	0.844	< 0.001	0.728	0.937
APACHE II	–	0.910	0.842	0.813	< 0.001	0.796	0.972

CAP community-acquired pneumonia, AUC area under the curve, CI confidence interval, DHEA-S dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate, CRP C-reactive protein, PCT procalcitonin, CURB-65 confusion, urea level, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age > 65 years, PSI pneumonia severity index, APACHE II Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II