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. 2020 Sep 22;15(9):e0239401. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239401

Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the cohort according to treatment with MP.

VARIABLE Overall (n = 242) Week-2-MP (n = 61) No week-2-MP (n = 181) p-value1
Age (years), mean (sd) 64.4 (14.3) 65.0 (12.1) 64.2 (15.0) 0.702
Male
n (%)
150 (62.0) 40 (65.6) 110 (60.8) 0.504
Follow-up* (days), mean (sd) 17.9 (7.3) 20.7 (6.0) 17.0 (7.5) 0.0007
Diabetes mellitus
n (%)
51 (21.1) 9 (14.8) 42 (23.2) 0.162
Overweight
n (%)
49 (20.3) 10 (16.4) 39 (21.6) 0.386
Hypertension
n (%)
117 (48.4) 33 (54.1) 84 (46.4) 0.299
Chronic bronchopathy
n (%)
62 (25.6) 14 (23.0) 48 (26.5) 0.581
Active cancer
n (%)
26 (10.7) 7 (11.5) 19 (10.5) 0.831
Neurodegenerative disease
n (%)
9 (3.7) 3 (4.9) 6 (3.3) 0.567
Autoimmune disease
n (%)
9 (3.7) 3 (4.9) 6 (3.3) 0.567
Immunosuppressive therapy
n (%)
21 (8.7) 5 (8.2) 16 (8.8) 0.877
CURB65, high risk n. (%) 19 (7.9) 5 (8.2) 14 (7.7) 0.461
Time of symptoms to admission (days) mean (sd) 6.6 (3.2) 7.4 (2.8) 6.3 (3.2) 0.021
Lymphocytes (count/mm3) median (iqr) 800 (580) 680 (480) 815 (575) 0.118
Platelets (count/mm3) median (iqr) 212,000 (144,000) 208,000 (156,000) 213,000 (135,500) 0.703
Ferritin (mg/dl) median (iqr) 543 (807) 824 (919) 481 (723) <0.001
D-dimers (ng/ml), Median (iqr) 500 (1,171) 540 (870) 470 (1,171) 0.224
C-reactive protein (mg/dl)
median (iqr)
79.5 (112.8) 112.3 (89.8) 73.4 (99.9) 0.024
SpO2/FiO2, median (iqr) 380 (160.0) 332 (201.0) 438 (125.0) <0.001
SpO2/FiO2 < 353
n (%)
117 (48.3) 41 (67.2) 76 (42.0) 0.001
Hydroxychloroquine n (%) 224 (92.9) 61 (100) 163 (90.5) 0.013
Days on hydroxychloroquine mean (sd) 6.25 (2.6) 6.8 (2.6) 6.1 (2.6) 0.24
Lopinavir/ritonavir
n (%)
218 (90) 58 (95) 160 (88) 0.13
Betaferon
n (%)
13 (5.3) 1 (1.6) 12 (6.6) 0.13
LMWH
n (%)
225 (92.9) 60 (98.3) 165 (91.26) 0.057

Week-2-MP: methyl-prednisolone pulses in week 2; LMWH: low molecular weight heparin; sd: standard deviation; iqr: interquartile range.

* From disease onset to death, discharge or end of the study period.