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Table 2 Characteristics of complete encounters in the survey period by working diagnosis (Item 3)

From: Ground truth labels challenge the validity of sepsis consensus definitions in critical illness

Characteristic

All (n = 761)a

Working diagnosis (Item 3)b

Neither SIRS nor sepsis

SIRS

Sepsis

Severe sepsis

Septic shock

(n = 312)

(n = 113)

(n = 51)

(n = 34)

(n = 247)

Demographics

 Men

460 (60.4)

170 (54.5)

69 (61.1)

39 (76.5)

22 (64.7)

159 (64.4)

 Age in yr mean (sd)

61.9 (16.2)

61.6 (16.3)

60.4 (18.2)

65.7 (15.8)

57.3 (19.7)

62.8 (14.6)

  < 40 yr

80 (10.5)

38 (12.2)

16 (14.2)

3 (5.88)

5 (14.7)

18 (7.3)

  40–60 yr

252 (33.1)

100 (32.1)

41 (36.3)

13 (25.5)

13 (38.2)

84 (34.0)

  > 60 yr

429 (56.4)

174 (55.8)

56 (49.6)

35 (68.6)

16 (47.1)

145 (58.7)

Referring departmentc

 Anesthesiology

42 (5.5)

1 (0.3)

1 (0.9)

2 (5.9)

38 (15.4)

 General surgery

168 (22.1)

19 (6.1)

29 (25.7)

13 (25.5)

6 (17.6)

100 (40.5)

 Neurosurgery

364 (47.8)

215 (68.9)

57 (50.4)

19 (37.3)

15 (44.1)

57 (23.1)

 Orthopedics and trauma center

87 (11.4)

33 (10.6)

12 (10.6)

10 (19.6)

5 (14.7)

26 (10.5)

 Otorhinolaryngology

34 (4.5)

12 (3.9)

4 (3.5)

4 (7.8)

3 (8.8)

11 (4.5)

 Urology

27 (3.6)

10 (3.2)

6 (5.3)

4 (7.8)

1 (2.9)

6 (2.4)

 Other

43 (5.6)

24 (7.6)

5 (4.4)

1 (2.0)

2 (5.9)

10 (4.0)

Working diagnosis present

 On admissiond

308 (98.7)

74 (65.5)

25 (49.0)

19 (55.9)

161 (65.2)

Charlson comorbidity index

 Mean (sd)

2.9 (2.8)

2.6 (2.9)

2.5 (2.4)

3.3 (3.2)

3.4 (3.0)

3.4 (2.6)

SOFAe, score value

 On admission

  Mean (sd)

6.9 (4.2)

4.3 (2.9)

7.1 (3.3)

6.6 (2.5)

6.0 (2.7)

10.4 (3.7)

  Median (range)

6 (0–21)

4 (0–16)

7 (0–16)

7 (1–12)

6.5 (0–11)

10 (1–21)

 Maximum

  Mean (sd)

8.0 (4.8)

4.6 (3.0)

7.9 (3.4)

7.7 (2.6)

7.2 (2.9)

12.6 (4.0)

  Median (range)

7.5 (0–23)

4 (0–16)

8 (0–16)

8 (2–13)

7.5 (0–12)

12 (2–23)

Microbiology testing

 Blood cultures

  Mean (sd)

3.8 (6.1)

0.8 (1.4)

2.3 (2.7)

4.4 (5.1)

5.4 (4.9)

8.0 (8.4)

  Median (range)

1 (0–48)

0 (0–9)

1 (0–15)

3 (0–23)

4 (0–21)

5 (0–48)

 Bronchial lavage

  Mean (sd)

1.1 (3.0)

0.1 (0.4)

0.5 (1.2)

0.9 (1.6)

1.2 (1.8)

2.7 (4.7)

  Median (range)

0 (0–50)

0 (0–3)

0 (0–7)

0 (0–6)

0 (0–9)

1 (0–50)

Antimicrobial therapy, ddd

 Mean (sd)

12.1 (31.3)

0.5 (2.4)

1.2 (5.0)

6.9 (9.4)

13.0 (18.8)

32.9 (47.6)

 Median (range)

0.0 (0.0–421.8)

0.0 (0.0–23.4)

0.0 (0.0–45.0)

4.6 (0.0–46.5)

7.3 (0.0–99.1)

17.5 (0.0–421.8)

Length of encounter, d

 Mean (sd)

8.8 (11.9)

3.1 (3.6)

5.6 (5.3)

9.3 (8.6)

11.8 (8.8)

17.2 (16.1)

 Median (range)

4.5 (0.1–104.9)

1.6 (0.2–20.4)

3.8 (0.3–22.5)

6.8 (0.6–33.7)

9.6 (0.4–33.8)

12.7 (0.1–104.9)

ICU mortality

146 (19.2)

20 (6.4)

22 (19.5)

3 (5.9)

2 (5.9)

98 (39.7)

  1. sd standard deviation, ddd defined daily dose
  2. aData represent absolute numbers (% of column category) unless otherwise indicated
  3. bMost severe working diagnosis assigned during encounter (neither SIRS nor sepsis > SIRS > severe sepsis > septic shock). The working diagnosis was missing for four complete encounters (0.5%)
  4. cFor 8 encounters, more than one referring department was listed. For 5 encounters, no referring department was documented. Of these, 4 were from the neither SIRS nor sepsis and 1 was from the SIRS working diagnosis category
  5. dWorking diagnosis labels were missing for both day 1 and 2 in 4 encounters in the neither SIRS nor sepsis, 3 in the SIRS, 3 in the sepsis, 1 in the severe sepsis, and 14 in the septic shock category
  6. eSOFA scores at admission were determined at the first 2 PM-rating time point of each encounter and were available for all but two encounters, one of which had ended before the next rating time point