Effect of preadmission glucocorticoid therapy on 30-day mortality in critically ill patients: a retrospective study of a mixed ICU population in a tertiary hospital

Annals of Intensive Care

Table 3 Sensitivity analysis according to types and daily dosage of glucocorticoids

Variable	30-Day mortality
Variable	Hazard ratio (95% CI)	P-value
Daily dosage*
Preadmission non-GC user (n = 24,113)	1	(0.001)
Preadmission GC user of daily dosage ≤ 5 mg (n = 393)	1.45 (1.03, 2.03)	0.033
Preadmission GC user of daily dosage > 5 mg (n = 423)	1.67 (1.25, 2.24)	0.001
Type of GCs*
Preadmission non-GC user (n = 24,113)	1	(0.001)
Preadmission GC user: prednisolone (n = 635)	1.56 (1.21, 2.01)	0.001
Preadmission GC user: methylprednisolone (n = 131)	1.90 (1.12, 3.25)	0.018
Preadmission GC user: dexamethasone (n = 50)	1.30 (1.05, 1.50)	0.042

APACHE Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation, CI confidence interval, GC glucocorticoid, GI gastrointestinal, ICU intensive care unit
*Covariates of P < 0.2 in univariate Cox regression analysis in Additional file 1: Table S1 were included in multivariate Cox regression analysis: age, body mass index, APACHE II, comorbidity at ICU admission (hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, liver disease, chronic kidney disease, anemia, and cancer), admission through emergency department, main diagnosis on ICU admission (septic shock, cardiac disease, neurologic disease, kidney failure, respiratory insufficiency or failure, GI bleeding, ischemia or perforation, and post-cardiac arrest)