Table 2.
Anamnestic and electrocardiographic characteristics the 1074 study participants, stratified according to procalcitonin levels on admission.
| PCT < 0.05 ng/ml (N = 130) | PCT ≥0.05-<0.5 ng/ml (N = 698) | PCT ≥0.5-<2 ng/ml (N = 145) | PCT ≥ 2 ng/ml (N = 101) | P ∗ |
P < 0.05 Standardized β or odds ratio |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal history | ||||||
| Total dependency in daily activities, % | 9 | 18 | 15 | 30 | 0.017 | 1.33 (1.05-1.68) |
| Chronic diseases, number | 2 (1-4) | 3 (1-4) | 3 (2-4) | 4 (2-5) | 0.028 | 0.062 |
| Drugs, number | 3 (0-6) | 3 (1-6) | 4 (2-7) | 5 (3-8) | 0.002 | 0.092 |
| Hypertension, % | 47 | 58 | 65 | 66 | 0.080 | |
| Diabetes, % | 14 | 19 | 24 | 27 | 0.225 | |
| Obesity, % | 8 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 0.031 | 1.31 (1.03-1.68) |
| Chronic heart disease, % | 22 | 22 | 33 | 35 | 0.166 | |
| Chronic kidney disease, % | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | <0.001 | 1.97 (1.48-2.62) |
| ACE-I treatment, % | 16 | 24 | 26 | 22 | 0.946 | |
| ARB treatment, % | 20 | 16 | 18 | 23 | 0.723 | |
| COVID-19-related symptoms | ||||||
| Duration of symptoms, days | 7 (4-10) | 7 (4-10) | 7 (4-10) | 5 (3-7) | 0.034 | -0.069 |
| Cough, % | 50 | 48 | 47 | 32 | 0.065 | |
| Dyspnea, % | 45 | 52 | 61 | 64 | 0.009 | 1.26 (1.06-1.49) |
| Diarrhea, % | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0.360 | |
| Fever, % | 75 | 84 | 80 | 85 | 0.124 | |
| Electrocardiogram abnormalities on admission | ||||||
| Electrocardiogram abnormalities, % | 38 | 47 | 59 | 69 | <0.001 | 1.44 (1.20-1.72) |
| Repolarization abnormalities, % | 22 | 26 | 31 | 42 | 0.001 | 1.35 (1.12-1.62) |
| Atrial fibrillation, % | 5 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 0.008 | 1.42 (1.10-1.84) |
| Other tachiarrythmias, % | 2 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 0.007 | 1.59 (1.14-2.21) |
| QTC, msec | 442 (420-461) | 445 (427-467) | 449 (437-480) | 459 (436-487) | 0.019 | 0.085 |
∗ P adjusted for age, sex, consolidations, and positive nasopharyngeal swab. Data shown as median and interquartile range (IQR) or percentage. P values calculated with linear regression for continuous variables and logistic regression for dichotomous variables (PCT: procalcitonin; COVID-19: CoronaVirus Disease-19; ACE-I: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors; ARB: angiotensin receptor blocker; QTC: QT interval corrected according to the Bazin formula).