Table 1.
Participant characteristics
| Healthy subjects (n = 20) |
P value* | ICU stay 1–2w (n = 164) |
ICU stay 2–3w (n = 75) |
ICU stay 3–4w (n = 44) |
ICU stay ≥ 4w (n = 64) |
P value** | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demography and anthropometry | |||||||
| Male gender, no. (%) | 14 (70) | 0.83 | 108 (66) | 51 (68) | 29 (66) | 47 (73) | 0.73 |
| Age, year (mean ± SEM) | 64 ± 2 | 0.87 | 64 ± 1 | 64 ± 2 | 59 ± 2 | 65 ± 2 | 0.18 |
| BMIa, kg/m2 (mean ± SEM) | 26.4 ± 0.7 | 0.82 | 26.4 ± 0.4 | 26.1 ± 0.5 | 26.4 ± 0.8 | 26.9 ± 0.8 | 0.88 |
| Admission characteristics | |||||||
| Diabetes mellitus, no. (%) | 22 (13) | 20 (27) | 7 (16) | 11 (17) | 0.17 | ||
| Malignancy, no. (%) | 26 (16) | 7 (9) | 3 (7) | 10 (16) | 0.44 | ||
| APACHE II scoreb (mean ± SEM) | 28 ± 1 | 29 ± 1 | 31 ± 1 | 31 ± 1 | 0.02 | ||
| Emergency admission, no. (%) | 128 (78) | 58 (77) | 34 (77) | 53 (83) | 0.84 | ||
| Diagnostic admission categories | 0.001 | ||||||
| Cardiac surgery, no. (%) | 29 (18) | 21 (28) | 13 (29) | 13 (20) | |||
| Complicated other surgery, no. (%) | 63 (38) | 17 (23) | 11 (25) | 27 (42) | |||
| Multiple trauma and burns, no. (%) | 11 (7) | 12 (16) | 6 (14) | 14 (22) | |||
| Medical, no. (%) | 61 (37) | 25 (33) | 14 (32) | 10 (16) | |||
| Patient characteristics at study inclusion (ICU day 7) | |||||||
| Infection, no. (%) | 123 (75) | 62 (83) | 40 (91) | 53 (83) | 0.08 | ||
| Sepsisc, no. (%) | 103 (63) | 57 (76) | 38 (86) | 47 (73) | 0.009 | ||
| Septic shockc, no. (%) | 45 (27) | 34 (45) | 21 (47) | 38 (59) | < 0.0001 | ||
| Requiring vasopressors on ICU day 7, no. (%) | 67 (41) | 41 (55) | 24 (55) | 50 (78) | < 0.0001 | ||
| Norepinephrine infusion rate on ICU day 7, µg/kg/min (mean ± SEM) | 0.03 ± 0.01 | 0.04 ± 0.01 | 0.06 ± 0.02 | 0.09 ± 0.01 | < 0.0001 | ||
| Treatment with inhaled glucocorticoids on ICU day 7, no. (%) | 8 (5) | 1 (1) | 1 (2) | 1 (2) | 0.38 | ||
| Clinical outcomes | |||||||
| Days in ICU (mean ± SEM) | 10 ± 0 | 17 ± 0 | 23 ± 0 | 49 ± 3 | < 0.0001 | ||
| ICU non-survivor, no. (%) | 20 (12) | 8 (11) | 6 (14) | 13 (20) | 0.34 | ||
ICU intensive care unit
*The comparison between healthy subjects and all patients
**The comparison between patient groups
aBody mass index (BMI) is the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters
bAcute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score reflects severity of illness, with higher values indicating more severe illness, and can range from 0 to 71 [28]
cIncidence of sepsis and septic shock was defined according to [29, 30]