Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) on admission to the ICU, stratified according to the inclusion periods
| All patients | Inclusion period | p value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2013 | January 2014 | |||
| N | 663 | 364 | 299 | |
| Age, years, mean ± SD | 63.9 ± 16 | 64.5 ± 15.9 | 63.1 ± 16.2 | 0.226 |
| Male, n (%) | 386 (58.7) | 216 (59.8) | 170 (57.2) | 0.501 |
| Healthcare worker, n (%) | 11 (1.7) | 5 (1.4) | 6 (2.0) | 0.798 |
| Ethnicity, n (%) | ||||
| White/Caucasian | 441 (67.7) | 246 (69.5) | 195 (71.3) | 0.392 |
| Asian | 49 (7.5) | 22 (6.2) | 27 (9.1) | |
| Latin American | 46 (6.9) | 24 (6.8) | 22 (7.4) | |
| South Asiana | 41 (6.2) | 23 (6.5) | 18 (6.1) | |
| Arab | 34 (5.2) | 19 (4.9) | 15 (5.1) | |
| Black | 24 (3.6) | 15 (4.2) | 9 (3.0) | |
| Others | 16 (2.5) | 5 (1.4) | 11 (3.7) | |
| Source of admission, n (%) | ||||
| Community | 194 (29.4) | 108 (29.9) | 36 (22.1) | 0.847 |
| Hospital ward | 183 (27.8) | 99 (27.4) | 64 (39.3) | |
| Emergency room | 165 (25.0) | 93 (25.8) | 34 (20.9) | |
| Other hospital | 58 (8.8) | 33 (9.1) | 25 (8.4) | |
| Long-term facility | 24 (3.6) | 10 (2.8) | 14 (4.7) | |
| Other ICU | 13 (2.0) | 2 (0.6) | 11 (3.7) | |
| Step-down/-up | 14 (2.1) | 10 (2.8) | 4 (1.3) | |
| Others | 8 (1.2) | 6 (1.7) | 2 (0.7) | |
| Severity scores | ||||
| SAPS II, mean ± SD | 50.4 ± 19.0 | 49.3 ± 18.2 | 51.7 ± 19.8 | 0.178 |
| SOFA score, median (IQR) | 5 (2–9) | 5 (2–9) | 5 (2–9) | 0.727 |
| Mode of acquisition, n (%) | ||||
| Community-acquired | 452 (68.2) | 246 (68.3) | 206 (69.4) | 0.059 |
| Healthcare-related | 76 (11.5) | 37 (10.3) | 39 (13.1) | |
| Nosocomial-acquired | 129 (19.5) | 77 (21.4) | 39 (17.5) | |
| Mechanical ventilation on admission to the ICU | ||||
| Invasive | 385 (58.1) | 208 (57.1) | 177 (59.2) | 0.594 |
| Non-invasive | 46 (6.9) | 28 (7.7) | 18 (6.0) | 0.399 |
| Influenza vaccine, n (%) | 67 (10.2) | 43 (11.9) | 24 (8.1) | 0.751 |
| Pneumococcal vaccine, n (%) | 49 (7.4) | 31 (8.6) | 18 (6.0) | 0.692 |
Missing values n = 2–12 (max 1.8 %), valid percentages are presented after exclusion of missing values
ICU intensive care unit, SAPS simplified acute physiology score, IQR interquartile range, SOFA sequential organ failure assessment score
aIndia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka