Changes in plasma creatinine along the hospitalization course. Compared are the 3 study groups, NO AKI, AKI 1, and AKI 2–3, monitored during the first 120 hours following admission. Although plasma creatinine remained stable in the NO-AKI group, in general it was higher on admission in the AKI-1 group and declined subsequently, as opposed to the average values in the AKI-2–3 group that peaked on the second/third day and partially recovered later on. The symbol size reflects the number of observations, decreasing with time in all groups. Numbers adjacent to each time point represent SDs. Two-way analysis of variance reveals a P < 0.001 for both between-group and within-group variance. The test was restricted to the first 72 hours only, due to missing values of discharged patients at later time points. Creatinine values over time were significantly higher in the ND-AKI 2–3 group as compared with the 2 other categories (P < 0.001, Tukey post hoc test). A trend for higher cumulative creatinine values over time in the ND-AKI 1 group as compared with the NO-AKI group did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.12), but, as illustrated in Table 2, it was significantly higher on admission. AKI, acute kidney injury; ND-AKI, acute kidney injury associated with near-drowning.