Table 1 General characteristics of the population

Demographics and severity of illness

 Male, n (%)

2971 (71)

1436 (71)

670 (72)

317 (72)

548 (68)

 Age, in years, median (p25-75)

63 (54‒71)

65 (57‒72)

64 (56‒71)

62 (50‒70)

57 (48‒66)

 SOFA, median (p25‒75)

4 (3‒7)

6 (4‒8)

4 (3‒7)

3 (2‒6)

3 (2‒4)

 APACHE II, median (p25‒75)^a

13 (10‒18)

15 (11‒20)

14 (10‒17)

13 (10‒16)

10 (7‒13)

Comorbidities

 Hypertension, n (%)

1931 (46)

980 (48)

466 (50)

175 (40)

310 (39)

 Obesity (> 30 kg/m²), n (%)

1508 (36)

739 (36)

354 (38)

150 (34)

265 (33)

 Diabetes, n (%)

949 (23)

458 (23)

262 (28)

85 (19)

144 (18)

 Chronic heart failure, n (%)

139 (3)

68 (3)

32 (3)

18 (4)

21 (3)

 Chronic lung disease, n (%)

286 (7)

162 (8)

69 (7)

24 (5)

31 (4)

 Asthma, n (%)

262 (6)

123 (6)

60 (6)

26 (6)

53 (7)

 Ischemic heart disease, n (%)

256 (6)

128 (6)

64 (7)

18 (4)

37 (5)

 Immunosuppression, n (%)

222 (5)

88 (4)

60 (6)

28 (6)

46 (6)

 Chronic kidney disease, n (%)

210 (5)

94 (5)

58 (6)

24 (5)

34 (4)

Laboratory findings at admission

 Procalcitonin (ng/ml), median (p25–75)

0.28 (0.11‒0.82)

0.3 (0.1‒1)

0.3 (0.1‒0.9)

0.3 (0.1‒0.8)

0.2 (0.1‒0.4)

 C-reactive protein (mg/dL), median (p25–75)

14.19 (7.9‒22.3)

15 (9‒23)

15 (9‒23)

14 (7‒22)

6 (11‒17)

 White blood cells count (109/ml), median (p25–75)

8.9 (6.3‒12.4)

10 (7‒13)

8.6 (6.3‒12)

8.2 (5.8‒11.5)

8.3 (5.0‒11.1)

 LDH (U/L), median (p25–75)

489 (368‒670)

561 (434‒727)

512 (405‒629)

484 (384‒583)

409 (326‒507)

 D-dimer (ng/ml), median (p25–75)

1000 (580.5‒2260)

1899 (813‒5659)

1128 (600‒2496)

991 (595‒2437)

837 (500‒1661)

 Creatinine (mg/dL), median (p25–75)

0.76 (0.53‒1.03)

0.9 (0.7‒1.2)

0.8 (0.7‒1.1)

0.8 (0.7‒1.05)

0.8 (0.6‒0.9)

 Urea (mg/dL), median (p25–75)

44 (32‒61)

47 (35‒67)

45 (32‒60)

44 (33‒57)

38 (29‒50)

 Lactate (mmol/L), median (p25–75)

1.5 (1.1‒2.1)

1.1 (1.5‒2.1)

1.5 (1.1‒2.1)

1.6 (1.1‒2.3)

1.4 (1‒2.1)

 PaO₂/FiO₂ ratio, median (p25–75)

131 (90‒190)

155 (98‒215)

100 (75‒148)

116 (90‒152)

142 (106‒182)

Complications and outcomes

 Acute renal failure, n (%)

1123 (27)

676 (33)

283 (30)

111 (25)

53 (7)

 Renal replacement therapy, n (%)

383 (9)

235 (12)

105 (11)

39 (9)

4 (1)

 Acute heart failure, n (%)

376 (9)

208 (10)

104 (11)

42 (9)

22 (3)

 ICU LOS (days), median (p25–75)^b

14 (7‒28)^b

19 (12‒34)

19 (12‒34)

25 (8‒42)

3 (5‒8)

 Hospital LOS (days), median (p25–75)^b

29 (18‒46)^b

37 (25‒54)

35 (23‒53)

41 (20‒46)

15 (12‒21)

 ICU mortality, n (%)

1270 (30)

787 (39)

293 (32)

163 (37)

0 (0)

 Hospital mortality, n (%)

1327 (32)

824 (41)

309 (33)

176 (40)

0 (0)