Results
One hundred twenty-eight patients were included (Table
2). Between the 4 groups there were no significant
differences in age, sex, cause of chronic respiratory failure,
GOLD COPD stage (in patients with COPD), FEV1,
or FVC. The stable patients were using home oxygen supplementation
or mechanical ventilation more frequently
than the unstable patients (see Table 2). In the ICU patients
the SAPS II score was 39 17. Fourteen patients
had more than one hospital stay, resulting in 145 admissions
among the 128 patients (Table 3). As expected, stable
patients were admitted to the pneumology ward only,
and the cause of admission and respiratory status at the
time of blood sampling differed between the 4 groups (see
Table 3).