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.