Effects of high doses of selenium, as sodium selenite, in septic shock: a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind, phase II study

Table 1 General characteristics at randomisation

Characteristic	Placebo group (n = 29)	Selenium group (n = 31)	P value
Age (years)	69 ± 12	66 ± 14	0.354
Male/female (n)	18/11	20/11	0.844
McCabe classification
No disease	3 (10)	4 (13)	0.713
Nonfatal disease	16 (55)	14 (45)
Ultimately fatal disease	10 (35)	13 (42)
Rapidly fatal diseases	0 (0)	0 (0)
Level of activity limitation^a
A	2 (7)	5 (16)	0.548
B	15 (52)	10 (32)
C	7 (24)	6 (20)
D	5 (17)	10 (32)
Prior or pre-existing disease
Hypertension	14 (48)	10 (32)	0.206
Coronary artery disease	6 (21)	2 (7)	0.140
Congestive heat failure	2 (7)	6 (19)	0.257
Chronic pulmonary disease	7 (24)	9 (29)	0.668
Diabetes	5 (17)	7 (23)	0.605
Liver disease	3 (10)	0 (0)	0.107
Cancer	4 (14)	7 (23)	0.379
Length of hospital stay before enrolment
<14 days	24 (83)	29 (93)	0.064
14–28 days	4 (14)	0 (0)
≥ 28 days	1 (3)	2 (7)
Admission category
Medical	18 (62)	29 (94)	0.003
Emergency surgery	10 (35)	2 (6)
Elective surgery	1 (3)	0 (0)

Data presented as the mean ± standard deviation for quantitative variables and n (%) for qualitative variables. ^aLevels of activity limitation defined as follows: A, prior good health; B, mild to moderate limitation of activity because of chronic medical problem; C, chronic disease producing serious but not incapacitating restriction of activity; and D, severe restriction of activity due to disease.

ISSN: 1364-8535