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Table 1 Characteristics of enrolled patients

From: Early and dynamic alterations of Th2/Th1 in previously immunocompetent patients with community-acquired severe sepsis: a prospective observational study

Characteristic

Healthy control

n = 7

ICU control

n = 7

Community-acquired severe sepsis

n = 71

Overall

28-Day survivors

28-Day non-survivors

p

n = 71

n = 53 (74.6%)

n = 18 (25.4%)

Age (years)

57.32 ± 23.27

69.00 ± 19.87

71.72 ± 15.54

71.85 ± 17.21

71.72 ± 10.23

ns

 < 60, n (%)

2

2

15

12

3

 

 61–70, n (%)

1

1

9

5

4

 

 71–80, n (%)

2

2

23

15

8

 

 81–90, n (%)

2

2

23

22

3

 

Gender (male/female)

4/3

4/3

45/26

36/17

9/9

ns

Admission sources (n, %)

     

ns

 Emergency

–

1 (14.3)

56 (78.9)

40 (75.5)

16 (88.9)

 

 Internal dept.

–

2 (28.6)

6 (8.5)

6 (11.3)

0

 

 Surgical dept.

–

4 (57.1)

9 (12.7)

7 (13.2)

2 (11.1)

 

Presumed infection site (n, %)

     

ns

 Lung

–

–

50 (70.4)

36 (67.92)

14 (77.7)

 

 Abdomen

–

–

11 (15.5)

8 (15.09)

3 (16.7)

 

 Cardiovascular system

–

–

3 (4.2)

3 (5.66)

0

 

 Bone or soft tissue

–

–

1 (1.4)

1 (1.89)

0

 

 Urinary tract

–

–

6 (8.5)

5 (9.43)

1 (5.6)

 

Aetiologya

 Bacteria

–

–

32 (45.1)

21 (39.6)

11 (61.1)

ns

 Virus

–

–

5 (7.0)

3 (5.7)

2 (11.1)

ns

 Others or undetected

–

–

34 (47.9)

29 (54.7)

5 (27.8)

ns

Comorbidities (n, %)

 Hypertension

0

3 (42.9)

38 (53.5)

28 (52.8)

10 (55.6)

ns

 Diabetes

0

3 (42.9)

20 (28.2)

13 (24.5)

7 (38.9)

ns

 Chronic cardiac dysfunction

0

2 (28.6)

27 (38.0)

20 (37.7)

7 (38.9)

ns

 Cerebrovascular disease

0

0

28 (39.4)

22 (41.5)

6 (33.3)

ns

 Chronic renal dysfunction 0

0

0

5(7.0)

4(7.5)

1(5.6)

ns 

Smoker

     

ns

 Never

6 (85.7)

6 (85.7)

47 (66.2)

33 (62.3)

14 (77.8)

 

 Previous (stopped > 3 months)

0 (0)

1 (14.3)

14 (19.7)

11 (20.8)

3 (16.7)

 

 Former (stopped ≤ 3 months)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

 

 Current

1 (14.3)

0 (0)

10 (14.1)

9 (16.9)

1 (5.6)

 

Alcohol use

     

ns

 Never or daily intake ≤ 50 g of pure alcohol

7 (100)

6 (85.7)

64 (90.1)

46 (86.8)

18 (100)

 

 Previous (daily intake > 50 g of pure alcohol, stopped > 3 months)

0 (0)

1 (14.3)

3 (4.2)

3 (5.7)

0 (0)

 

 Former (daily intake > 50 g of pure alcohol, stopped ≤ 3 months)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

 

 Current intake (> 50 g of pure alcohol)

0 (0)

0 (0)

4 (5.6)

4 (7.5)

0 (0)

 

Severity scores

 APACHE II

–

19.51 ± 5.31

20.55 ± 5.95#

19.51 ± 5.31

23.38 ± 6.19

0.04

 SOFA D0

–

6.00 ± 2.39

9.91 ± 3.11#

9.70 ± 3.21

10.44 ± 2.93

ns

 D3

–

–

8.11 ± 3.66

7.43 ± 3.35

9.5 ± 4.01

0.04

 D7

–

–

7.02 ± 3.29

6.24 ± 3.01

9.13 ± 3.31

0.01

Inflammatory and immune indicators

 D0 (upon enrollment)

  WBC (/μl)

6.31 [5.23, 7.54]

13.89 [8.57,16.22]

13.66 [8.89, 20.14]

13.66 [8.59, 18.92]

14.61 [8.89, 22.23]

ns

  ALC (/μl)

2.74 [1.99, 2.86]

1.07 [0.96, 2.22]

0.59 [0.52, 0.90]#

0.59 [0.51, 0.99]

0.52 [0.51, 0.66]

ns

  hs-CRP (mg/l)

–

6 [0.81, 119]

94.60 [44, 136]#

96.50 [65.85, 146.50]

85.20 [33.88, 126.30]

ns

  PCT (μg/l)

–

0.09 [0.05, 2.05]

1.18 [0.34, 12.82]#

0.98 [0.30,17.79]

1.27 [0.47, 1.93]

ns

  Treg (%)

1.77 [1.11, 2.56]

1.52 [1.07, 1.77]

2.14 [1.44, 3.91]

2.14 [1.49, 3.54]

1.69 [0.39, 5.40]

ns

 D3

 WBC (/μl)

–

–

9.78 [7.35, 15.29]

9.47 [7.17, 9.47]

14.07 [7.68, 19.59]

0.03

  ALC (/μl)

–

–

0.93 [0.55, 1.30]

0.99 [0.59, 1.42]

0.76 [0.55, 0.83]

0.02

  hs-CRP (mg/l)

–

–

63.5 [36.6, 107]

65.8 [41.5, 110]

45 [24, 105.9]

ns

  PCT (μg/l)

–

–

0.87 [0.27, 2.53]

0.90 [0.26, 3.53]

0.53 [0.26, 2.15]

ns

  Treg (%)

–

–

1.94 [1.39, 2.86]

1.97 [1.41, 2.87]

1.47 [0.35, 2.55]

0.05

 D7

  WBC (/μl)

–

–

8.21 [6.08, 12.02]

7.98 [5.90, 9.06]

13.36 [6.30, 15.90]

0.02

  ALC (/μl)

–

–

0.97 [0.66, 1.28]

0.99 [0.78, 1.29]

0.62 [0.47, 1.11]

0.02

  hs-CRP (mg/l)

–

–

43.0 [14.75, 78.8]

46.85 [15.98, 81.4]

32.6 [13.45, 58.28]

ns

  PCT (μg/l)

–

–

0.28 [0.20, 0.58]

0.21 [0.20, 0.46]

0.69 [0.22, 1.37]

ns

  Treg (%)

–

–

1.38 [1.11, 2.17]

1.37 [1.11, 1.89]

2.17 [0.60, 3.91]

ns

  1. APACHE, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation; SOFA, sequential organ failure assessment; WBC, white blood count; ALC, absolute lymphocyte count; hs-CRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; PCT, procalcitonin; Treg (%), percentage of regulatory T cells in CD4 positive T cells
  2. aReferred to any pathogen detected within 7 days upon enrolled; # Significant difference with p < 0.05 compared to ICU control. Chi square tests were used for categorical data, Student’s t-test for normally distributed continuous data and Mann–Whitney-U tests for nonnormally distributed data. Mean and standard deviations are shown for age and severity scores and medians and interquartile ranges are for all inflammatory and immune indicators