Serum Procalcitonin and Procalcitonin Clearance as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock

Table 2

Comparisons of baseline characteristics between survivors and nonsurvivors in patients with sepsis or septic shock.

Variables	All patients ()		p value
	Survivors ()	Dead ()
Gender			0.897
Male	19 (47.5)	4 (50.0)
Female	21 (52.5)	4 (50.0)
Culture results
Blood culture			0.356
Positive	23 (57.5)	6 (75.0)
Negative	17 (42.5)	2 (25.0)
Urine culture			0.895
Positive	16 (40.0)	3 (37.5)
Negative	24 (60.0)	5 (62.5)
Sputum culture			0.010
Positive	15 (37.5)	7 (87.5)
Negative	25 (62.5)	1 (12.5)
Endotracheal tube	7 (17.5)	3 (37.5)	0.204
	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD
Age (years)	75 ± 11	70 ± 14	0.355
Clinical scoring
APACHE II score (day 1)	21.9 ± 6.8	28.1 ± 5.2	0.019
SOFA score (day 1)	6.8 ± 3.2	9.0 ± 3.2	0.089
Laboratory tests
Serum PCT (mg/dL)
Day 1	41.4 ± 54.7	37.4 ± 66.9	0.856
Day 3	28.5 ± 44.6	33.6 ± 48.0	0.773
Day 5	11.1 ± 22.6	11.8 ± 11.1	0.925
Blood sugar (mg/dL)	218.6 ± 153.9	241.7 ± 292.5	0.745
Blood pH	7.3 ± 0.1	7.3 ± 0.1	0.299
Blood bicarbonate	18.8 ± 5.8	19.0 ± 4.9	0.932
Duration of hospitalization
ICU stay (days)	11.2 ± 8.6	18.5 ± 9.6	0.040
Hospital stay (days)	23.9 ± 15.6	18.5 ± 9.7	0.352