The Clinical Significance of Procalcitonin Elevation in Patients over 75 Years Old Admitted for COVID-19 Pneumonia
Table 3
Laboratory tests on admission of the 1074 study participants, stratified according to procalcitonin levels.
() (1)
PCT ≥0.05-<0.5 ng/ml () (2)
PCT ≥0.5-<2 ng/ml () (3)
() (4)
Bonferroni test
Blood gas analysis
pH
7.44 (7.41-7.46)
7.45 (7.43-7.48)
7.44 (7.41-7.47)
7.42 (7.38-7.47)
<0.001
(4) vs. (2)
Bicarbonate, mmol/l
25 (24-27)
25 (23-27)
25 (22-28)
22 (20-25)
<0.001
(4) vs. (1) vs. (2) vs. (3)
PaCO2, mmHg
37 (35-41)
36 (33-39)
36 (32-40)
34 (30-38)
0.005
(4) vs. (1) vs. (2)
PaO2/FiO2, mmHg
357 (290-406)
257 (173-333)
141 (84-260)
171 (87-278)
<0.001
(1) vs. (2) vs. (3) vs. (4) (2) vs. (3)
Blood cell count
Hemoglobin, g/dl
13.2 (12.2-14.2)
13.5 (12.2-14.6)
13.5 (11.8-14.6)
13.1 (10.6-14.4)
0.001
(4) vs. (1) vs. (2) vs. (3)
Platelets, 1000/mm3
219 (180-270)
209 (163-273)
209 (168-271)
197 (145-253)
0.157
Neutrophils, n/mm3
3657 (2404-5189)
4981 (3540-7014)
7217 (4833-9829)
9007 (4726-12398)
<0.001
(1) vs. (2) vs. (3) vs. (4) (2) vs. (3) vs. (4)
Lymphocytes, n/mm3
1154 (856-1650)
914 (649-1247)
894 (560-1245)
630 (398-898)
<0.001
(1) vs. (2) vs. (3) vs. (4) (2) and (3) vs. (4)
Clinical chemistry and inflammatory indexes
Creatinine, mg/dl
0.7 (0.6-0.9)
0.9 (0.7-1.1)
1.0 (0.9-1.6)
1.5 (0.9-2.7)
<0.001
(1) and (2) vs. (3) vs. (4); (3) vs. (4)
Urea, mg/dl
32 (24-41)
43 (31-59)
65 (41-98)
78 (55-127)
<0.001
(1) vs. (2) vs. (3) vs. (4); (2) vs. (3) vs. (4); (3) vs. (4)
Sodium, mEq/l
139 (137-140)
138 (135-140)
137 (135-140)
137 (134-140)
0.429
Potassium, mEq/l
3.9 (3.6-4.2)
4.0 (3.7-4.3)
4.1 (3.8-4.5)
4.0 (3.7-4.6)
0.014
(2) vs. (4)
Total bilirubine, mg/dl
0.6 (0.5-0.7)
0.7 (0.5-0.9)
0.8 (0.6-1.0)
0.7 (0.5-0.9)
0.023
(1) vs. (3)
AST, IU/l
32 (25-38)
43 (31-65)
65 (42-95)
55 (32-99)
<0.001
(1) vs. (3) vs. (4); (2) vs. (3)
LDH, IU/l
257 (209-305)
340 (269-432)
440 (350-612)
399 (283-624)
<0.001
(1) vs. (2) vs. (3) vs. (4) (2) vs. (3) vs. (4)
CPK, IU/l
86 (54-155)
125 (65-251)
207 (104-551)
235 (113-802)
<0.001
(1) and (2) vs. (3) vs. (4)
Fibrinogen, ng/dl
502 (394-592)
596 (502-730)
708 (552-806)
648 (535-806)
<0.001
(1) vs. (2) vs. (3) vs. (4) (2) vs. (3)
CRP, mg/l
25 (5-55)
92 (50-143)
167 (111-230)
172 (111-250)
<0.001
(1) vs. (2) vs. (3) vs. (4) (2) vs. (3) vs. (4)
IL-6, pg/ml
31 (19-84)
126 (61-246)
173 (100-272)
236 (124-731)
<0.001
(4) vs. (1) vs. (2) vs. (3)
D-dimer, ng/dl
658 (464-1068)
990 (626-1740)
1374 (862-2392)
1514 (954-2679)
<0.001
(3) vs. (1) vs. (2)
calculated with univariate general linear model (GLM) and adjusted for age, sex, consolidations, and positive nasopharyngeal swab. Data shown as median and interquartile range (IQR) (PCT: procalcitonin; PaCO2: arterial pressure of carbon dioxide; PaO2: arterial pressure of oxygen; FiO2: fraction of inspired oxygen; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; CPK: creatine phosphokinase; LDH: lactate dehydrogenase; CRP: C-reactive protein; IL-6: interleukin-6).
