Prior to enrolment, we screened all consecutive admissions tothe Evangelismos Hospital ICU, Athens, Greece over a twenty-fourmonth period for eligibility. Exclusion criteria were as follows: sepsis on or within the first 24 hour of ICU admission according to the established sepsis criteria [6], BMI >35 kg/m2, age <18 years, pregnancy, brain death, end-stage cancer, total ICU stay <3 days, readmission or transfer from another ICU, contagious disease(human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis) and oral intake of corticosteroids at an equivalent dosage of P1 mg/kg prednisone/dayfor a period of more than one month. Out of 177 non-septic subjects screened for eligibility over the study period, finally 89 (62 male and 27 female) critically ill patients were enrolled in the study based on the above mentioned criteria and consent to participate. The patients recruited in the study suffered from medical,surgical and trauma-related pathologies. Patients were considered to have sepsis when they developed systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) as a result of documented infection, septic patients with evidence of organ dysfunction were considered to have severe sepsis, and septic patients with persisting hypotension(despite adequate fluid resuscitation) were considered to have septic shock, in accordance with international guidelines and recommendations. Clinical data and blood samples were obtained from the patients enrolled.
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