Table 1.

Patient characteristics stratified according to mechanical ventilation (MV) requirement.

MV requirement	Yes (N = 15)	No (N = 13)	p value
Discovery sample (NGS analysis)
Mean age (years) ± SD	49 ± 8.7	44 ± 12	0.231
Gender (% male)	9 (60%)	7 (53.8%)	0.387
Dead	1	0	0.478
HBP (n(%))	9 (60%)	1 (7.7%)	0.011
CAD (n(%))	1 (6.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0.212
Obesity (n(%))	7 (46.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0.011
Cancer* (n(%))	0 (0.0%)	2 (15.4%)	0.21
Chronic kidney disease (n(%))	3 (20%)	0 (0.0%)	0.091
Chronic infections (n(%))	0 (0.0%)	1 (7.7%)	0.214
Chronic respiratory diseases (n(%))	5 (33.3%)	2 (15.4%)	0.109
Diabetes Mellitus (n(%))	4 (26.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0.091
Sum risk factors (Mean ± SD)	2.6	1.2 ± 1.5	0.041
IL-6 (pg/ml) (Mean ± SD)	798 ± 699	52.5 ± 33.1	0.002

MV requirement	Yes (N = 10)	No (N = 10)	p value
Validation sample (qPCR analysis)
Mean age (years) ± SD	63 ± 9	55 ± 12	0.131
Gender (% male)	5 (50%)	6 (60%)	0.361
Dead	3 [30]	0	0.060
HBP (n(%))	2 (20%)	5 (50%)	0.160
CAD (n(%))	1(10%)	1 (10%)	1
Obesity (n(%))	3 (30%)	5 (50%)	0.361
Cancer* (n(%))	0	0	1
Chronic kidney disease (n(%))	1 (10%)	0	0.305
Chronic infections (n(%))	0	1	0.350
Chronic respiratory diseases (n(%))	4 (40%)	2(20%)	0.260
Diabetes Mellitus (n(%))	4 (40%)	3 (30%)	0.630
Sum risk factors (Mean ± SD)	3.1 ± 2.1	2.3 ± 1.4	0.106
IL-6 (pg/ml) (Mean ± SD)	967 ± 933	37.5 ± 44	0.001

SD standard deviation, HBP high blood pressure, CAD cardiovascular disease, NS non-significant.

*Previous cancer or current.