Early sepsis markers in patients admitted to intensive care unit with moderate-to-severe diabetic ketoacidosis

Annals of Intensive Care

Table 2 Association between sepsis markers and presence of proven bacterial infection at admission and day 2

Variables	Admission			Day 2
Variables	Episodes with PBI (n = 20)	Episodes without PBI (n = 82)	p-value^a	Episodes with PBI (n = 20)	Episodes without PBI (n = 82)	p-value^a
Temperature, °C, median [IQR]	36.9 [36.2–38.0]	36.4 [35.7–36.8]	0.032	38.4 [37.1–39.0]	37.0 [36.8–37.3]	<0.001
Fever^b, n (%)	5 (25%)	3 (4%)	0.007	12 (60%)	7 (9%)	<0.001
Hypothermia^c, n (%)	4 (20%)	26 (32%)	0.410	0 (0%)	1 (1%)	1
WBC, G/L, median [IQR]	16.85 [14.25–22.15]	15.40 [12.30–22.50]	0.606	13.05 [8.68–18.23]	8.15 [6.68–10.20]	<0.001
Leukocyte abnormalities^d, n (%)	18 (90%)	62 (76%)	0.232	11 (55%)	14 (17%)	0.001
Neutrophils count, G/L, median [IQR]	13.30 [12.01–18.24]	13.71 [9.69–20.88]	0.673	10.79 [7.39–16.64]	5.38 [3.60–7.62]	<0.001
NLCR; median [IQR]	14.04 [8.79–19.07]	11.40 [5.78–19.27]	0.359	11.54 [7.63–23.99]	2.84 [1.56–4.96]	<0.001
Procalcitonin, ng/mL, median [IQR]	3.58 [1.87–11.24]	0.52 [0.19–1.38]	<0.001	7.43 [2.63–22.70]	0.42 [0.14–1.42]	<0.001

PBI proven bacterial infection, IQR interquartile range 25–75%, WBC white blood cell count, NLCR neutrophils-to-lymphocytes count ratio
^aSignificant difference (p < 0.05) between episodes with and without proven bacterial infection are reported in the “p-value” column
^bFever: temperature > 38 °C
^cHypothermia: temperature < 36 °C
^dLeukocyte abnormalities: white blood cell count > 12,000/mm³ or < 4000/mm³