Fig. 1

Kinetics of endocan in severe sepsis according to the presence and severity of ARDS at 72 h. Diagnosis and severity of ARDS was assessed in accordance with the Berlin definition on baseline, and at 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h following enrollment. For each patient, the severity of ARDS corresponds to the worst level of severity reached during follow-up. Median [IQR] values of blood endocan are represented at each time point of follow-up in patients with no ARDS (a), mild ARDS (b), and moderate to severe ARDS (c) at 72 h. Variation of blood endocan over 72 h was significantly different between these three subgroups (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 10⁻²