Paracetamol therapy and outcome of critically ill patients: a multicenter retrospective observational study

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of the study patients according to survival^a

	Survivors, N =13,654	Dead, N =2,164	P -value
Age, yr	63 (50–73)	67 (55–76)	<0.001
Male sex	65% (8827)	63% (1372)	0.26
APACHE II score	15.46 (5.78)	26.15 (8.13)	<0.001
SAPS II score	26.9 (20.6)	45.5 (26.1))	<0.001
Hospital A	21% (2870)	15% (335)	<0.001
Hospital B	11% (1474)	11% (244)	0.5
Hospital C	10%(1300)	14% (307)	<0.001
Hospital D	59%(8010)	59% (1278)	0.73
Mechanical ventilation^b	71% (9694)	84% (1819)	<0.001
Acute renal failure^c	71% (9694)	84% (1819)	<0.001
Surgical admissions^d	4% (572)	17% (362)	<0.001
Elective surgery	69% (9398)	28% (596)	<0.001
Infection as admission diagnosis^e	55% (7507)	9% (200)	<0.001
Number of temperature measurements	8% (1027)	18% (392)	<0.001
Mean temperature, °C	36.7 (0.6)	36.6 (1.0)	<0.001
Highest temperature, °C	37.6 (0.9)	37.9 (1.4)	<0.001
Lowest temperature, °C	35.5 (2.1)	34.9 (2.6)	<0.001
SD of temperature, °C	0.60 (0.45)	0.78 (0.49)	<0.001
Temperature >38°C^f	26% (3469)	45% (928)	<0.001
Temperature >38.3°C^f	18% (2441)	36% (771)	<0.001
Temperature >38.5°C^f	13% (1812)	30% (644)	<0.001
Temperature >39°C^f	6% (859)	18% (388)	<0.001
Temperature <35°C^f	35% (4823)	52% (1126)	<0.001
Number of patients given paracetamol	66% (9050)	46% (996)	<0.001
Total dose, g	0 (0–0)	3 (2–7)	<0.001
Mean daily dose,^g g	0 (0–0)	1.9 (1.0-2.6)	<0.001

^aAPACHE, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation; SAPS, Simplified Acute Physiology Score; SD, Standard deviation; ^bMechanical ventilation within first 24 hours of ICU admission; ^c24 hour urine output is <410 ml AND creatinine >133 μmol/L AND patient is not receiving chronic dialysis. ^dAPACHE III-J principal postoperative diagnosis. ^eA list of admission diagnosis with infection is provided in Additional file 1. ^fIndicates the presence of a given temperature at any time during intensive care unit stay. ^gMean daily dose calculated by dividing total dose by number by treatment days.

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