Multinational, observational study of procalcitonin in ICU patients with pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation: a multicenter observational study

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population stratified according to the type of pneumonia

	CAP N= 57	HAP N= 57	VAP N= 61	Over-all P	P(CAP versus VAP)
Age	61.8 ± 18.7	64.6 ± 15.8	60.7 ± 16.2	n.s.	n.s.
Male	35 (61.4%)	38 (66.7%)	35 (57.4%)	n.s.	n.s.
APACHE II score	26.2 ± 7.4	25.2 ± 9.4	20.1 ± 8.5	< 0.001	< 0.001
SOFA score	7.6 ± 3.5	6.9 ± 3.7	6 ± 3.5	0.044	0.005
On antibiotics	57 (100.0%)	55 (96.5%)	58 (95.1%)	n.s.	n.s.
*Coexisting diseases*
Diabetes mellitus	14 (24.6%)	11 (19.3%)	12 (19.7%)	n.s.	n.s.
Cardiovascular disease	28 (49.1%)	24 (42.1%)	16 (26.2%)	0.032	0.010
Hypertension	3 (5.3%)	3 (5.3%)	5 (8.2%)	n.s.	n.s.
Malignancies	14 (24.6%)	20 (35.1%)	11 (18.0)%	n.s.	n.s.
COPD	13 (22.8%)	5 (8.8%)	10 (16.4%)	n.s.	n.s.
Liver cirrhosis	4 (7.0%)	1 (1.8%)	1 (1.6%)	n.s.	n.s.
Chronic renal failure	2 (3.5%)	4 (7.0%)	3 (4.9%)	n.s.	n.s.
HIV/AIDS	1 (1.8%)	2 (3.5%)	1 (1.6%)	n.s.	n.s.

There was no statistical difference between CAP vs. HAP in any of these variables. Continuous data are given as mean ± standard deviation. AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; APACHE, Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation; CAP, community acquired pneumonia; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; HAP, hospital acquired pneumonia; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; n.s., not significant; SOFA, sequential organ failure assessment; VAP, ventilator associated pneumonia.