Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study population.
| Discovery cohort | Multicenter validation cohort | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All n = 259 | Non-sepsis patients n = 104 | SS patients n = 125 | P | All n = 793 | Non-sepsis patients n = 454 | SS patients n = 271 | P | |
| Age (years), mean ± SD | 56.8 ± 17.4 | 56.5 ± 17.5 | 57.6 ± 17.3 | 0.492* | 63.9 ± 17 | 62.5 ± 17.9 | 66.6 ± 15.0 | 0.0008* |
| Male/female gender, n | 146/113 | 60/44 | 69/56 | 0.659** | 517/276 | 296/158 | 176/95 | 0.915** |
| Length of ICU stay (days), median (IQR) | 6 (3–15) | 3 (1–7) | 13 (7–15) | <0.0001* | 9 (4–19) | 7 (4–14) | 15 (7–29.3) | <0.0001* |
| SOFA score, median (IQR) | 6 (3–11) | 3 (1–6) | 10 (7–13) | <0.0001* | 6 (3–9) | 4 (2–6) | 9 (6–12) | <0.0001* |
| APACHE II score, median (IQR) | 15 (9.3–22) | 10 (6–14) | 21 (17–27) | <0.0001* | 16 (10–23) | 13 (8–19.8) | 21 (16–26) | <0.0001* |
| Severe sepsis morbidity (%) | 48.3 | 33.8 | ||||||
| Mortality (%) | 17 | 5.71 | 29.6 | <0.0001** | 12.2 | 5.4 | 25.3 | <0.0001** |
| Post-surgical operation | ||||||||
| Post-cardiovascular surgery, n (%) | 28 (10.8) | 24 (23.0) | 4 (3.2) | <0.0001** | 21 (2.6) | 5 (1.1) | 12 (4.4) | 0.009** |
| Post-gastrointestinal surgery, n (%) | 33 (12.7) | 11 (10.6) | 15 (12.0) | 0.835** | 79 (10.0) | 25 (5.5) | 43 (15.9) | <0.0001** |
| Others, n (%) | 20 (7.7) | 12 (11.5) | 6 (4.8) | 0.083** | 6 (0.8) | 3 (0.7) | 3 (1.1) | 0.677** |
| Intracranial disease (ICH/CI), n (%) | 5 (2.0) | 0 (0) | 4 (3.2) | 0.128** | 68 (8.6) | 62 (13.7) | 3 (1.1) | <0.0001** |
| Respiratory failure, n (%) | 28 (10.8) | 4 (3.8) | 22 (17.6) | 0.001** | 77 (9.7) | 15 (3.3) | 51 (18.8) | <0.0001** |
| Heart failure, n (%) | 10 (3.9) | 4 (3.8) | 3 (2.4) | 0.705** | 72 (9.1) | 61 (13.4) | 8 (3.0) | <0.0001** |
| Endogenous abdominal disease | ||||||||
| Acute pancreatitis, n (%) | 22 (8.5) | 16 (15.4) | 6 (4.8) | 0.012** | 39 (4.9) | 22 (4.8) | 14 (5.2) | 0.861** |
| Gastrointestinal bleeding, n (%) | 5 (2.0) | 2 (1.9) | 3 (2.4) | >0.9999** | 36 (4.5) | 33 (7.3) | 2 (0.7) | <0.0001** |
| Hepatic failure, n (%) | 7 (2.7) | 3 (2.9) | 4 (3.2) | >0.9999** | 19 (2.4) | 7 (1.5) | 9 (3.3) | 0.124** |
| Others, n (%) | 13 (5.0) | 1 (1.0) | 9 (7.2) | 0.024** | 34 (4.3) | 10 (2.2) | 21 (7.7) | 0.001** |
| CPAOA, n (%) | 4 (1.5) | 2 (1.9) | 2 (1.6) | >0.9999** | 39 (4.9) | 32 (7.0) | 4 (1.5) | 0.001** |
| Trauma, n (%) | 11 (4.3) | 9 (8.7) | 0 (0) | 0.001** | 119 (15.0) | 105 (23.1) | 8 (3.0) | <0.0001** |
| Intoxication, n (%) | 8 (3.1) | 4 (3.8) | 4 (3.2) | >0.9999** | 23 (2.9) | 17 (3.7) | 6 (2.2) | 0.283** |
| Burn, n (%) | 2 (0.8) | 1 (1.0) | 0 (0) | 0.454** | 12 (1.5) | 7 (1.5) | 4 (1.5) | >0.9999** |
| Others, n (%) | 63 (24.3) | 11 (10.6) | 43 (34.4) | <0.0001** | 149 (18.8) | 50 (11.0) | 83 (30.6) | <0.0001** |
P values (non-sepsis patients vs. severe sepsis/septic shock patients) were calculated with Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test* and Fisher's exact test**.
ICH, intracranial hemorrhage; CI, cerebral infarction; CPAOA, cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival; SS, severe sepsis/septic shock; SOFA, sequential organ failure assessment; APACHE II, the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation; SD, standard deviation, IQR, interquartile range. Discovery and validation cohorts include 30 and 68 mild sepsis patients (non-severe), respectively.