Table 1

Baseline Characteristics of the 545 Patients*

Characteristic


Age – years
67.1 ± 18.0
Male sex – no. (%)
314 (62.6)
Smoking status

     - Current smoker – no. (%)
135 (24.8)
     - Packyears history in smokers
40.0 ± 24.9
Antibiotic pretreatment (%)
110 (20.2)
Underlying disease – no. (%)

     - Coronary artery disease
156 (28.6)
     - Hypertensive heart disease
95 (17.4)
     - Congestive heart failure
34 (6.2)
     - Peripheral vascular disease
39 (7.2)
     - Cerebrovascular disease
25 (4.6)
     - Renal dysfunction
121 (22.2)
     - Liver disease
43 (7.9)
     - Diabetes mellitus
93 (17.1)
     - Neoplastic disease
65 (11.9)
Symptoms – no. (%)

     - Cough
497 (91.2)
     - Sputum
390 (71.6)
     - Dyspnea
392 (71.9)
Signs– no. (%)

     - Rales
394 (72.3)
Final diagnoses – no. (%)

     - CAP
373 (68.4)
     - Other respiratory tract infections
132 (24.2)
          - Asthma
13 (2.4)
          - Acute bronchitis
59 (10.8)
          - Acute exacerbation of COPD
60 (11.0)
     - Others
40 (7.3)
          - With infiltrate on chest radiography
23 (4.2)
          - Without infiltrate on chest radiography
17 (3.1)
PSI in patients with CAP – points
96.4 ± 36.0
PSI class – no. (%)

     - I, II and III
162 (43.4)
     - IV
150 (40.2)
     - V
61 (16.4)
Laboratory parameters

hsCRP (mg/L) (mean; median (range))
127.9; 103.4 (0.5–512)
PCT (μg/L) (mean; median (range))
3.1; 0.32 (0.02–234.7)
Leukocyte count (×109/L)
12.9 ± 6.7

*Plus-minus values are means ± SD. Because of rounding, percentages may not sum to 100. COPD denotes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, PSI pneumonia severity index, CAP community-acquired pneumonia, hsCRP highly-sensitive C-reactive protein, PCT procalcitonin.

Müller et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2007 7:10   doi:10.1186/1471-2334-7-10