Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study population
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | P | |
| n | 282 | 250 | 161 | 501 | |
| Male | 174 (61.7%) | 167 (66.8%) | 102 (63.4%) | 340 (67.9%) | 0.31 |
| Age (IQR) | 68 (58.79) | 72 (60.81) | 65 (53.78) | 68 (52.80) | 0.03 |
| APACHE II (IQR) | 22 (17.28) | 21 (16.27) | 18 (13.24) | 18 (14.24) | <0.01 |
| SOFA (IQR) | 12 (10.14) | 10 (8.12) | 7 (5.10) | 6 (4.8) | <0.01 |
| Comorbidities | |||||
| Cardiac disease | 46 (16.3%) | 50 (20.0%) | 27 (16.8%) | 86 (17.2%) | 0.70 |
| Hypertension | 94 (33.3%) | 100 (40.0%) | 53 (32.9%) | 212 (42.3%) | 0.04 |
| Diabetes | 53 (18.8%) | 63 (25.2%) | 31 (19.3%) | 117 (23.4%) | 0.23 |
| Cancer | 33 (11.7%) | 25 (10.0%) | 20 (12.4%) | 31 (6.2%) | 0.02 |
| COPD | 16 (5.7%) | 42 (16.8%) | 11 (6.8%) | 56 (11.2%) | <0.01 |
| Chronic renal disease | 19 (6.7%) | 16 (6.4%) | 7 (4.4%) | 42 (8.4%) | 0.36 |
| No comorbidities | 125 (44.3%) | 82 (32.8%) | 59 (36.7%) | 178 (35.5%) | 0.03 |
| Suspected infection site | |||||
| Respiratory system | 132 (46.8%) | 156 (62.4%) | 86 (53.4%) | 356 (71.1%) | <0.01 |
| Blood stream | 26 (9.2%) | 23 (9.2%) | 9 (5.6%) | 19 (3.8%) | <0.01 |
| Intra-abdominal | 111 (39.4%) | 75 (30.0%) | 52 (32.3%) | 99 (19.8%) | <0.01 |
| Urinary system | 15 (5.3%) | 11 (4.4%) | 8 (5.0%) | 31 (6.2%) | 0.77 |
| Wounds and soft tissues | 9 (3.2%) | 6 (2.4%) | 12 (7.5%) | 9 (1.8%) | <0.01 |
| Others | 2 (0.7%) | 3 (1.2%) | 4 (2.5%) | 10 (2.0%) | 0.38 |
| Uncertain | 35 (12.4%) | 21 (8.4%) | 19 (11.8%) | 38 (7.6%) | 0.10 |
| Source of patients | |||||
| Emergency room∗ | 94 (33.3%) | 69 (27.6%) | 61 (37.9%) | 211 (42.1%) | <0.01 |
| Other departments† | 91 (32.3%) | 108 (43.2%) | 54 (33.5%) | 191 (38.1%) | <0.05 |
| Operating room‡ | 67 (23.8%) | 46 (18.4%) | 33 (20.5%) | 52 (10.4%) | <0.01 |
| Other hospitals§ | 30 (10.6%) | 27 (10.8%) | 13 (8.1%) | 47 (9.4%) | 0.48 |
| Prognosis | |||||
| 28-day mortality | 136 (48.2%) | 108 (43.2%) | 42 (26.1%) | 124 (24.8%) | <0.01 |
| In-hospital mortality | 153 (54.3%) | 124 (49.6%) | 52 (32.3%) | 149 (29.7%) | <0.01 |
| ICU LOS (IQR) | 8 (4,16) | 10 (5,19) | 7 (3,16) | 10 (5,19) | 0.01 |
| Hospital LOS (IQR) | 13 (5,23) | 16 (8,24.8) | 14 (8,24) | 17 (10,26) | <0.01 |
∗
Admission from the emergency room refers to community patients who were initially diagnosed and treated in the emergency room and then admitted to the ICUs.
†
Admission from other departments refers to hospitalized patients who were transferred to ICUs from other departments in the same hospital.
‡
Admission from the operating room refers to post-operation patients transferred to ICUs from the operating room directly.
§
Admission from other hospitals refers to patients who had been treated at other hospitals and were transferred to ICUs directly from other hospitals.
COPD indicates chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; IQR, interquartile range; SOFA, sequential organ failure assessment.