Table 1.
Comparisons of patients groups
| GI (d-dimer < 2) (n = 20) | GII (d-dimer ≥ 2) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before PSM | After PSM | |||||||
| GIIa (TPE+) (n = 18) | GIIb (TPE−) (n = 35) | p1 (GI and GIIa) | p2 (GIIa and GIIb) | GIIa (TPE+) (n = 12) | GIIb (TPE−) (n = 12) | p2 (GIIa and GIIb) | ||
| Age (years) | 60 ± 14 | 62 ± 12 | 62 ± 15 | 0.615 | 0.951 | 61 ± 14 | 64 ± 17 | 0.605 |
| Male, n (%) | 13 (65.0) | 14 (77.8) | 26 (74.3) | 0.386 | 0.780 | 8 (66.7) | 8 (66.7) | 1.000 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 27.3 (5.8) | 27.9 (5.5) | 27.3 (6.6) | 0.290 | 0.237 | 28.5 (6.1) | 25.0 (6.6) | 0.078 |
| CCI | 2.5 (4) | 3 (3) | 4 (3) | 0.919 | 0.422 | 3.0 ± 2.2 | 3.8 ± 1.7 | 0.270 |
| At the ICU admission | ||||||||
| APACHE II | 12 ± 4 | 17 ± 4 | 17 ± 5 | 0.002 | 0.886 | 17 ± 3.3 | 17.5 ± 5.6 | 0.794 |
| SOFA Score | 5 (3) | 6 (1) | 7 (3) | 0.002 | 0.223 | 6 (2) | 6 (2) | 0.713 |
| PaO2/FiO2 ratio | 128 (68) | 97 (51) | 113 (79) | 0.251 | 0.229 | 108 (106) | 125 (103) | 0.551 |
| SpO2 (%) | 89 (5) | 91 (7) | 89 (5) | 0.377 | 0.597 | 92 (10) | 91 (5) | 0.590 |
| Lactate (mmol/L) | 1.4 (0.6) | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.4 (0.9) | 0.988 | 0.631 | 1.5 (0.8) | 1.3 (0.5) | 0.291 |
| WBC (×103/μL) | 9.6 (3.9) | 6.9 (6.4) | 8.2 (6.5) | 0.573 | 0.353 | 8.7 ± 4.9 | 7.4 ± 2.7 | 0.430 |
| Lymc (×103/μL) | 0.82 ± 0.40 | 0.80 ± 0.34 | 0.89 ± 0.42 | 0.553 | 0.271 | 0.83 ± 0.3 | 0.82 ± 0.5 | 0.963 |
| d-dimer (mg/L)& | 1.2 (0.3–1.9) | 5.0 (2.1–35.2) | 7.2 (2.1–35.5) | < 0.001 | 0.151 | 4.5 (2.1–35.2) | 6.0 (2.2–32.2) | 0.514 |
| Ferritin (ng/mL) | 1015 (1735) | 1735 (1853) | 900 (1454) | 0.158 | 0.018 | 1742 (2117) | 605 (1346) | 0.012 |
| IL-6 (pg/mL)& | 28.3 (5.3–1418)(8) | 134 (36.2–2958)(13) | 254 (33–5233)(13) | 0.036 | 0.101 | 155 (39.6–2958)(8) | 237 (33–4885)(4) | 0.933 |
| CRP (mg/dL) | 18.6 ± 10.9 | 22.2 ± 12.1 | 27.8 ± 10.4 | 0.340 | 0.086 | 19.2 ± 10.3 | 24.0 ± 11.0 | 0.275 |
| Creatinine (mg/dL) | 0.88 (0.29) | 0.87 (0.37) | 0.99 (0.82) | 0.874 | 0.051 | 0.91 ± 0.3 | 0.90 ± 0.3 | 0.944 |
| Urea (mg/dL) | 28 (29) | 32 (19) | 36 (26) | 0.942 | 0.288 | 28 (32) | 35 (14) | 0.291 |
| Number of damaged lobes, n (%)& | 3 (2–4) | 3 (2–5) | 3 (2–5) | 0.149 | 0.118 | 3 (2–5) | 3 (3–5) | 0.671 |
| In the first 48 h | ||||||||
| Breath rate/min (max) | 34 (6) | 33 (9) | 33 (5) | 0.988 | 0.713 | 33 (11) | 33 (5) | 0.590 |
| PaO2/FiO2 ratio (min) | 117 ± 42 | 98 ± 30 | 105 ± 34 | 0.087 | 0.376 | 104 ± 32.4 | 120 ± 32.5 | 0.235 |
| FiO2 (%) (max) | 75 (48) | 80 (30) | 80 (35) | 0.082 | 0.969 | 80 (25) | 80 (30) | 0.799 |
| PEEP (cmH2O) (max) | 12 (6) | 12 (4) | 14 (4) | 0.502 | 0.056 | 12.0 ± 2.3 | 13.0 ± 1.9 | 0.215 |
| Cdyn (ml/cmH2O) (min) | 44 (6) | 37 (12) | 41 (8) | 0.003 | 0.058 | 36.3 ± 6.6 | 39.5 ± 7.0 | 0.265 |
| In the first week | ||||||||
| WBC (×103/μL) (max) | 13.2 (5.8) | 11.0 (8.9) | 12.6 (6.6) | 0.077 | 0.086 | 10.4 (10.3) | 11.0 (6.7) | 0.590 |
| WBC (×103/μL) (min) | 5.9 (2) | 6.3 (4) | 4.9 (4) | 0.718 | 0.612 | 6.7 (4.4) | 4.6 (1.5) | 0.219 |
| Lymc (×103/μL) (min) | 0.48 (0.40) | 0.5 (0.28) | 0.49 (0.46) | 0.919 | 0.573 | 0.52 (0.29) | 0.45 (0.28) | 0.551 |
| NLCR (max) | 16.4 (16.2) | 15 (8) | 11 (11) | 0.460 | 0.517 | 13.6 (10.1) | 11.6 (11.5) | 0.843 |
| Lactate (mmol/L) (max) | 2.1 (0.7) | 2.4 (1.1) | 2.4 (0.8) | 0.087 | 0.955 | 2.3 (1.0) | 2.4 (1.6) | 0.347 |
| Fluid balance (mL) | 3670 (3198) | 4552 (2973) | 3849 (2196) | 0.874 | 0.441 | 4174 ± 2907 | 5331 ± 3170 | 0.361 |
| Total fluid (mL/kg/day) | 40.7 (9.3) | 44.3 (15.5) | 44.8 (11) | 0.696 | 0.910 | 44.8 ± 13.5 | 48.7 ± 12.0 | 0.460 |
| Respiratory support (max), n (%) | ||||||||
| IMV | 13 (65.0) | 16 (88.8) | 30 (85.7) | 0.084 | 0.746 | 11 (91.7) | 12 (100) | 0.307 |
| NIMV | 3 (15.0) | 1 (5.6) | 3 (8.6) | 0.344 | 0.694 | 1 (8.3) | 0 | 0.307 |
| HFOT | 4 (20.0) | 1 (5.6) | 2 (5.7) | 0.188 | 0.981 | 0 | 0 | NA |
| Additional therapies, n (%) | ||||||||
| Cytokine filters | 1 (5.0) | 3 (16.7) | 3 (8.1) | 0.427 | 0.434 | 2 (16.7) | 1 (8.3) | 0.592 |
| IL-6 blocker | 12 (60.0) | 9 (50.0) | 20 (57.1) | 0.536 | 0.621 | 7 (58.3) | 6 (50) | 0.682 |
| Steroids | 11 (55.0) | 10 (55.6) | 20 (57.1) | 0.357 | 0.912 | 7 (58.3) | 7 (58.3) | 1.000 |
| Duration of IMV (h)& | 168 (0–816) | 286 (0–1008) | 192 (0–720) | 0.1 12 | 0.067 | 316 ± 271 | 278 ± 139 | 0.671 |
| AKI, n (%) | 7 (35.0) | 6 (33.3) | 19 (54.3) | 0.914 | 0.148 | 3 (25) | 6 (50) | 0.206 |
| Tracheotomized patients, n (%) | 2 (10.0) | 2 (11.1) | 1 (2.9) | 0.911 | 0.218 | 1 (8.3) | 0 (0) | 0.307 |
| LOS-ICU, (days)& | 12 (6–34) | 20 (5–42) | 11 (7–35) | 0.017 | 0.003 | 20 ± 10 | 14 ± 5 | 0.067 |
| Mortality, n (%) | 1 (5.0) | 3 (16.7) | 16 (45.7) | 0.242 | 0.037 | 1 (8.3) | 7 (58.3) | 0.009 |
AKI acute kidney injury, APACHE II Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation, BMI body mass index, CCI Charlson comorbidity index, Cdyn dynamic compliance, CRP C-reactive protein, HFOT high-flow oxygen therapy, ICU intensive care unit, IL-6 interleukin-6, IMV invasive mechanical ventilation, LOS length of stay, Lymc lymphocyte count, NIMV non-invasive mechanical ventilation, NLCR neutrophil-lymphocyte count ratio, PSM propensity score matching, SOFA, sequential organ failure assessment, TPE therapeutic plasma exchange, WBC white blood cell. Results were given as percentage, mean ± sd, and median (IQR or min-max). &Minimum and maximum values. Student t and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis