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Table 1 Characteristics of patients according to season

From: Light and the outcome of the critically ill: an observational cohort study

Characteristic

Season

P value

 

Spring

(n = 2,566)

Summer

(n = 2,367)

Fall

(n = 2,275)

Winter

(n = 2,326)

 

Age, yearsa

60.1 ± 17.8

59.6 ± 18.0

60.4 ± 18.0

60.1 ± 17.6

0.48

Sex, percentage

     

   Male

58.9

58.6

59.7

58.7

0.89

Race, percentage

     

   Caucasian

79.1

81.5

81.0

79.1

0.04

   African-American

14.0

11.3

11.9

14.2

 

   Other

6.9

7.2

7.1

6.7

 

APACHE III scorea

51.4 ± 25.2

51.5 ± 25.4

52.9 ± 26.0

52.6 ± 26.4

0.09

Diagnostic category, percentage

     

   Cardiovascular

28.1

28.2

31.9

28.8

0.01

   Trauma

15.4

17.3

14.7

13.9

0.01

   Gastrointestinal

9.5

8.3

9.5

9.2

0.41

   Sepsis

6.5

5.4

7.1

6.8

0.09

   Solid tumors

5.9

4.9

4.2

5.0

0.06

   Neuropsychiatric

4.8

3.6

4.0

4.5

0.18

   Pulmonary

4.1

3.7

4.6

4.2

0.50

   Renal

1.0

1.1

0.9

1.1

0.87

   Immunodeficiency

0.3

0.6

0.2

0.4

0.12

   Other

24.6

26.8

23.0

26.1

0.01

Type of ICU, percentage

     

   Medical

32.9

33.1

29.8

32.9

0.05

   Coronary care

10.7

9.6

11.7

9.9

0.07

   Cardiothoracic

30.0

32.2

34.2

31.3

0.02

   Surgical

6.2

6.3

7.2

5.4

0.07

   Multidisciplinary

20.2

18.8

17.1

20.5

0.02

Length of stay, daysa

4.8 ± 6.6

5.2 ± 9.2

4.9 ± 6.6

5.1 ± 6.9

0.97

Mortality, percentage

10.2

10.0

11.4

11.2

0.29

  1. aValues are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. APACHE III, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III; ICU, intensive care unit.