Table 1.
Baseline characteristics
| Biomarker-guided recommendation on antibiotics group (n=103) | Routine use of antibiotics group (n=106) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 57·5 (16·1) | 56·2 (15·9) | |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 37 (36%) | 39 (37%) | |
| Male | 66 (64%) | 67 (63%) | |
| APACHE II score | 18·6 (8·3) | 16·6 (6·8) | |
| Total SOFA score | 5·2 (2·5) | 4·9 (2·8) | |
| SOFA respiratory | 2·6 (0·9) | 2·4 (1·0) | |
| SOFA renal | 0·4 (0·8) | 0·5 (1·0) | |
| SOFA hepatic | 0·3 (0·6) | 0·4 (0·8) | |
| SOFA cardiovascular | 1·6 (1·6) | 1·3 (1·6) | |
| SOFA haematological | 0·3 (0·6) | 0·4 (0·8) | |
| Functional comorbidity index score | 1·3 (1·4) | 1·4 (1·2) | |
| Medical admission | 59 (57%) | 70 (66%) | |
| Surgical admission | 44 (43%) | 36 (34%) | |
| Admission category | |||
| Respiratory | 18 (17%) | 24 (23%) | |
| Gastrointestinal or liver | 7 (7%) | 10 (9%) | |
| Cardiovascular | 17 (17%) | 9 (8%) | |
| Trauma | 23 (22%) | 23 (22%) | |
| Sepsis | 4 (4%) | 4 (4%) | |
| Obstetrics and gynaecology | 0 | 1 (1%) | |
| Neurological (non-trauma) | 20 (19%) | 21 (20%) | |
| Other | 14 (14%) | 14 (13%) | |
| Clinician pre-test suspicion of ventilator-associated pneumonia* | |||
| Low | 10 (10%) | 7 (7%) | |
| Medium | 33 (32%) | 51 (48%) | |
| High | 59 (57%) | 48 (45%) | |
| Number of days in ICU before bronchoalveolar lavage† | 10·2 (8·7) | 10·6 (10·4) | |
| Confirmed ventilator-associated pneumonia‡ | 38 (37%) | 32 (30%) | |
| Acute respiratory distress syndrome§ | |||
| Mild (26·7–40·0 kPa) | 11 (11%) | 11 (10%) | |
| Moderate (13·3–<26·7 kPa) | 16 (16%) | 11 (10%) | |
| Severe (<13·3 kPa) | 1 (1%) | 5 (5%) | |
| Vasopressors† | 38 (37%) | 37 (35%) | |
| Renal replacement therapy | 8 (8%) | 4 (4%) | |
| Use of corticosteroids | 17 (17%) | 15 (14%) | |
| Receiving antibiotics at randomisation | 83 (81%) | 87 (82%) | |
| Temperature (°C)* | 37·4 (1·0) | 37·7 (0·9) | |
| White cell count (× 109/L) | 14·4 (5·4) | 15·5 (7·2) | |
| C-reactive protein (mg/L)¶ | 153·0 (97·9) | 157·6 (107·3) | |
| Positive end-expiratory pressure (cm H2O)‖ | 7·5 (2·9) | 7·8 (2·6) | |
| Peak airway pressure (cm H2O)** | 20·5 (6·4) | 21·3 (7·1) | |
| PaO2:FiO2 (kPa)†† | 29·1 (20·4–39·7) | 25·3 (18·5–36·0) | |
Data are mean (SD), n (%), or median (IQR). APACHE=acute physiology and chronic health evaluation. SOFA=sequential organ failure assessment. ICU=intensive care unit.
*
One patient from the biomarker-guided group missing.
†
Three patients (one from the biomarker-guided group) missing.
‡
One patient from the routine use of antibiotics group missing.
§
Two patients (one from the biomarker-guided group) missing.
¶
85 patients (43 from the biomarker-guided group) missing.
‖
Two patients from the biomarker-guided group missing.
**
23 patients (eight from the biomarker-guided group) missing.
††
Seven patients (three from the biomarker-guided group) missing.