RESULTS
Fifty three patients were included in the study, 32 of these 53 patients were male, and mean age was 62.62±12.80. Control group had 51 volunteers, 23 of these 51 volunteers were male and mean age was 60.25±6.86. There was no statistically significant difference between the patient group and the control group in terms of age and gender (p = 0.245 and p = 0.169, respectively).
When the treatment group and the control group were compared according to thiol/disulphide homeostasis, PCT and CRP parameters, mean values of disulphide/native thiol, PCT and CRP were found to be significantly higher in the patient group in comparison with the control group (p=0.029, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively) while mean values of disulphide, native thiol, total thiol and native thiol/total thiol were detected to be significantly lower in the same group (p=0.001, p<0.001, p<0.001 and p=0.046, respectively). There was no significant difference between the treatment group and control group in terms of the mean value of disulphide/total thiol (p = 0.057). The thiol/disulphide homeostasis, PCT and CRP parameters of the treatment group and control group are given in Table 2.
When patients who survived more than 28 days were compared with patients with mortality in terms of thiol/disulphide homeostasis, PCT and CRP parameters, mean values of disulphide/native thiol, disulphide/total thiol and PCT were found to be significantly higher in dying patients in comparison with surviving patients (p=0.007,p=0.012 and p=0.018, respectively), while mean values of native thiol, total thiol and native thiol/total thiol were detected to be significantly lower in the same group (p=0.002, p=0.006 and p=0.007, respectively). There was no significant difference between patients who died and surviving ones in terms of mean values of disulphide and CRP (p = 0.073 and p = 0.115, respectively). The comparison of results of mean thiol/disulphide homeostasis parameters, PCT and CRP levels in surviving and dying patients are given in Table 3.
When high-risk patients according to MASCC score were compared with low-risk patients in terms of thiol/disulphide homeostasis, CRP and procalcitonin parameters, mean values of disulphide/native thiol, PCT and CRP were found to be significantly higher in high-risk patients (p=0.038, p=0.004 and p=0.002, respectively) while mean values of native thiol and total thiol were detected to be significantly lower (p=0.012 and p=0.018, respectively). There was no significant difference between the high-risk and low-risk patients in terms of mean values of disulphide, disulphide/total thiol and native thiol/total thiol (p = 0.497, p = 0.070 and p = 0.058, respectively).Comparisons of thiol/disulphide homeostasis, PCT and CRP parameters according to MASCC score are given in table 4.
When the patient group was divided in to two groups according to the blood culture results, PCT and CRP values were seen to be significantly higher in the sub-group with positive blood culture (p = 0.034 and p = 0.027, respectively) while no significant difference was recorded between the sub-groups in terms of native thiol, disulphide, total thiol, disulphide/native thiol, disulphide/total thiol and native thiol/total thiol values. The comparison of the thiol/disulphide homeostasis, PCT, and CRP parameters in the patients with positive and negative blood cultures is given in Table 5.