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. 2021 Jan 4;21:4. doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-05676-2

Table 2.

Descriptive characteristics of participants (N = 571)

Non-TPE
(n = 174)
TPE patients (n = 397) *P value
Confirm TPE (n = 145) %P value Probable TPE (n = 252) §P value
Age, ys (Mean ± SD) ± sd) sdSD) 57.59 ± 15.36 45.00 ± 20.71 < 0.001# 40.5 ± 19.07 < 0.001# < 0.001#
Gender(%)male 103 (59.2) 119 (82.1) < 0.001 180 (71.4) 0.009 < 0.001
BMI (kg/m2) 23.23 ± 3.37 21.40 ± 7.43 0.004 21.88 ± 3.30 < 0.001 < 0.001
Onset time (day) 35 (20–90) 30 (14–60) 0.033# 21.50 (13.65–45.71) < 0.001# < 0.001#
Smoking
 None 107 (61.5) 91 (62.8) 0.817 164 (65.1) 0.450 0.532
 Years of smoking 30.79 (20.25–41.73) 21.67 (7.67–33.33) 0.259# 13.67 (8.53–28.64) 0.038# 0.050#
 Previous anti-TB treatment 31 (17.8) 44 (30.3) 0.009# 36 (14.3) 0.325 0.516#
Symptoms
 Fever 69 (39.7) 117 (80.7) < 0.001 180 (71.4) < 0.001 < 0.001
 Cough 131 (75.3) 120 (82.8) 0.105 191 (75.8) 0.905 0.422
 Chest pain 76 (43.7) 73 (50.3) 0.235 126 (50.0) 0.199 0.156
 Chest tightness 125 (71.8) 85 (58.6) 0.013 190 (75.4) 0.411 0.537
 Night sweat 18 (10.3) 22 (15.2) 0.195 54 (21.4) 0.003 0.009
 Weight loss 41 (23.6) 41 (28.3) 0.338 86 (34.1) 0.019 0.042
 Hemoptysis 13 (7.5) 3 (2.1) 0.057 3 (1.2) 0.002 < 0.001
Effusion site
 Left 66 (37.9) 56 (38.6) 0.900 93 (36.9) 0.830 0.928
 Right 69 (39.7) 65 (44.8) 0.351 119 (47.2) 0.122 0.138
 Bilateral 39 (22.4) 24 (16.6) 0.190 40 (15.9) 0.088 0.072
Pleural effusion volume
 Small 72 (41.6) 59 (40.7) 0.867 106 (42.1) 0.927 0.990
 Moderate 52 (30.1) 42 (29.0) 0.832 66 (28.0) 0.382 0.486
 Massive 49 (28.3) 44 (30.3) 0.693 81 (32.1) 0.410 0.451
 Total protein(g/L) 34.36 ± 18.68 37.63 ± 19.57 0.003# 43.47 ± 14.56 < 0.001# < 0.001#
 Glucose (mmol/L) 5.81 ± 2.92 4.50 ± 2.36 < 0.001# 5.04 ± 2.17 < 0.001# < 0.001#
 LDH(U/L) 256 (158.25–482) 425 (276–704) < 0.001# 377.5 (240.5–580.75) < 0.001# < 0.001#
 ADA (IU/L) 11.8 (8.25–18.65) 50 (37.85–62.15) < 0.001# 45 (31.875–57.9) < 0.001# < 0.001#

Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD), median (interquartile ranges) or frequency (percentage)

TPE tuberculous pleural effusion, BMI body mass index, TB tuberculosis, LDH lactate dehydrogenase, ADA adenosine deaminase

%Comparisons were performed between confirm- and non- TPE group using chi-square test and #Mann–Whitney U test and ¶unpaired t-test

§Comparisons were performed between non- and probable- TPE group using chi-square test and #Mann–Whitney U test and ¶unpaired t-test

*Comparisons were performed between non TPE and TPE group using chi-square test and #Mann–Whitney U test and ¶unpaired t-test