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Table 3 Inflammatory markers related to the severity of infection

From: A comparison of high-mobility group-box 1 protein, lipopolysaccharide-binding protein and procalcitonin in severe community-acquired infections and bacteraemia: a prospective study

Variable

Healthy controls (n = 32)

Infection without SIRS (n = 20)

Sepsis (n = 56)

Severe sepsis (n = 67)

Septic shock (n = 11)

P valuea

HMGB1 (ng/ml)

     

<0.001

   Median

0.77

3.4

4.3

6.7

4.8

 

   IQR

0.6–1.5

1.8–5.4

2.9–7.1

4.1–11.1

4.1–9.2

 

   P valueb

 

<0.0001

NS

< 0.01

NS

 

Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (μg/ml)

     

<0.001

   Median

12.7

46.3

63.3

88.7

73.3

 

   IQR

9.8–16.8

23.9–64.7

44.8–87.9

61.3–129

62.3–91.8

 

   P valueb

 

<0.0001

<0.05

<0.01

NS

 

Procalcitonin (ng/ml)

     

<0.001

   Median

0.05

0.15

0.4

4.4

46.1

 

   IQR

0.04–0.06

0.07–0.5

0.13–1.3

1.3–22.2

5.9–127.5

 

   P valueb

 

<0.0001

NS

<0.0001

<0.05

 

IL-6 (pg/ml)

     

<0.001

   Median

3.4

23.6

46.9

120

6117

 

   IQR

3–3.7

12.3–46.1

13.9–102.9

35.9–661

110–10,212

 

   P valueb

 

<0.0001

NS

<0.001

<0.01

 

C-reactive protein (mg/l)

     

<0.01

   Median

 

71

181

205

197

 

   IQR

 

28.5–199.5

120–255

126–306

146–270

 

   P valueb

  

<0.01

NS

NS

 

White blood cells (× 109/l)

     

<0.05

   Median

 

10.4

11.2

14.8

16.8

 

   IQR

 

7.2–13.9

8.5–16.8

10.5–18.5

7.4–25.3

 

   P valueb

  

NS

NS

NS

 

Neutrophils (× 109/l)

     

<0.01

   Median

 

7.8

8.9

12.4

15.5

 

   IQR

 

5.5–11.7

6.5–14.7

7.9–16.3

6.4–21.8

 

   P valueb

  

NS

<0.05

NS

 
  1. Data presented as median and interquartile range (IQR). HMGB1, high-mobility group box-1 protein; SIRS, systemic inflammatory response syndrome. aKruskal–Wallis test. bCompared with the previous group in the table (Wilcoxon's two-sample test); NS, not significant.