Table 1 Baseline characteristics at the time of ICU admission, stratified by early gut colonization

Age (tertiles)

≤ 56 years

30 (75.0%)

10 (25.0%)

0.177

57–67 years

39 (88.6%)

5 (11.4%)

≥ 68 years

35 (74.5%)

12 (25.5%)

Sex

female

59 (79.7%)

15 (20.3%)

0.913

male

45 (78.9%)

12 (21.1%)

ICU Type

Cardiac

23 (82.1%)

5 (17.9%)

0.884

Medical

31 (77.5%)

9 (22.5%)

Neurological

11 (73.3%)

4 (26.7%)

Surgical

39 (81.3%)

9 (18.8%)

Admission Diagnosis, by System

Cardiovascular

35 (85.4%)

6 (14.6%)

0.735

Digestive

28 (73.7%)

10 (26.4)

Respiratory

18 (75.0%)

6 (25.0%)

Genitourinary

7 (100%)

0 (0.0%)

Neurologic

6 (75.0%)

2 (25.0%)

Neurosurgery

5 (71.4%)

2 (28.6%)

Metabolic

1 (100%)

0 (0.0%)

Other

4 (80.0%)

1 (20.0%)

Pre-ICU¹ Days in Hospital

0 days

78 (80.4%)

19 (19.6%)

0.719

1–2 days

13 (72.2%)

5 (27.8%)

> 2 days

13 (81.3%)

3 (18.8%)

Receiving Dialysis

Yes

2 (66.7%)

1 (33.3%)

0.582

No

102 (79.7%)

26 (20.3%)

Receiving Ventilation

Yes

38 (84.4%)

7 (15.6%)

0.301

No

66 (76.7%)

20 (23.3%)

Vital Signs

Temperature > 38 °C

1 (50.0%)

1 (50.0%)

0.300

Heart Rate ≥ 120/min

8 (80.0%)

2 (20.0%)

0.960

Resp. Rate > 20/min

32 (76.2%)

10 (23.8%)

0.534

MAP ≤ 65

9 (81.8%)

2 (18.2%)

0.835

Lab values

WBC (10⁹/L) > 10

63 (81.8%)

14 (18.2%)

0.412

Hct (%) ≤ 40

81(77.9%)

23 (22.1%)

0.403

Albumin (g/dL) ≤ 3.4

43 (78.2%)

12 (21.8%)

0.771

Creatinine (mg/dL) > 1.2

37 (82.2%)

8 (17.8%)

0.562

Glasgow coma scale

< 5

27 (79.4%)

7 (20.6%)

0.973

5–10

10 (76.9%)

3 (23.1%)

> 10

67 (79.8%)

17 (20.2%)

APACHE IV score (tertiles)

Low (≤ 42 points)

35 (79.5%)

9 (20.5%)

0.842

Middling (43–73 points)

36 (81.8%)

8 (18.2%)

High (> 73 points)

33 (76.7%)

10 (23.3%)