Table 1.
Characteristics of 202 critically ill adults who underwent concomitant determinations of arterial blood gas and coulter counter hemoglobin concentrations
| Characteristic | Measurement |
| Number (%) of males | 132 (65.3) |
| Mean (SD) age (years) | 64.1 (15.5) |
| Mean (SD) APACHE II score | 20.0 (6.7) |
| Number (%) of patients admitted to the ICU according to specialty service | |
| Cardiac surgery | 103 (51.0) |
| Neurosurgery | 37 (18.3) |
| Vascular surgery | 24 (11.9) |
| Trauma | 12 (5.9) |
| Medicine | 11 (5.4) |
| Other | 15 (7.4) |
| Total | 202 (100.0) |
| Mean (SD) length of stay in the ICU (days) | 3.4 (4.6) |
| Number (%) of patients deceased at completion of data collection | 28 (13.9) |
| Mean (SD) hemoglobin concentration shortly after admission to the ICU (g/l) | |
| Coulter counter | 102.9 (22.7) |
| Arterial blood gas analyzer | 107.2 (23.2) |
| Average of both methods | 105.0 (22.9) |
APACHE II, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II; ICU, intensive care unit; SD, standard deviation.