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Table 1 Demographics and medical characteristics of participants included in the 2-year epigenetic follow-up analysis

From: Abnormal DNA methylation within HPA-axis genes years after paediatric critical illness

Demographics and medical characteristics of participants

Healthy children N = 392

PICU patients N = 818

p valuei

PICU patients No GC N = 608

PICU patients GC N = 210

p value

Demographics

Age at 2-year follow-up (years)—median (IQR)

3.8 (2.6–8.2)

3.4 (2.6–7.9)

0.96

3.2 (2.6–7.9)

3.6 (2.6–8.0)

0.31

Sex

  

0.19

  

0.10

 Male—no (%)

212 (54.1)

475 (58.1)

 

343 (56.4)

132 (62.9)

 

 Female—no (%)

180 (45.9)

343 (41.9)

 

265 (43.6)

78 (37.1)

 

Known non-Caucasian racea—no (%)

32 (8.2)

66 (8.1)

0.95

42 (6.9)

24 (11.4)

0.045

Known non-European origina—no (%)

51 (13.0)

144 (17.6)

0.038

96 (15.8)

48 (22.9)

0.023

Known not exclusive Dutch or English language—no (%)

73 (18.6)

190 (23.2)

0.066

140 (23.0)

50 (23.8)

0.81

Socioeconomic status

      

 Educational level parentsb

  

< 0.0001

  

0.20

  Educational level 1

13 (3.3)

41 (5.0)

 

32 (5.3)

9 (4.3)

 

  Educational level 1.5

22 (5.6)

59 (7.2)

 

43 (7.1)

16 (7.6)

 

  Educational level 2

54 (13.8)

201 (24.6)

 

147 (24.2)

54 (25.7)

 

  Educational level 2.5

73 (18.6)

135 (16.5)

 

99 (16.3)

36 (17.1)

 

  Educational level 3

212 (54.1)

208 (25.4)

 

167 (27.5)

41 (19.5)

 

  Educational level unknown

18 (4.6)

174 (21.3)

 

120 (19.7)

54 (25.7)

 

 Occupational level parentsc

  

< 0.0001

  

0.44

  Occupational level 1

2 (0.5)

12 (1.5)

 

10 (1.6)

2 (1.0)

 

  Occupational level 1.5

23 (5.9)

75 (9.2)

 

58 (9.5)

17 (8.1)

 

  Occupational level 2

49 (12.5)

141 (17.2)

 

102 (16.8)

39 (18.6)

 

  Occupational level 2.5

29 (7.4)

79 (9.7)

 

63 (10.4)

16 (7.6)

 

  Occupational level 3

85 (21.7)

130 (15.9)

 

99 (16.3)

31 (14.8)

 

  Occupational level 3.5

41 (10.5)

54 (6.6)

 

40 (6.6)

14 (6.7)

 

  Occupational level 4

116 (29.6)

111 (13.6)

 

87 (14.3)

24 (11.4)

 

  Occupational level unknown

47 (12.0)

216 (26.4)

 

149 (24.5)

67 (31.9)

 

Medical characteristics

STRONGkids risk leveld

  

–

  

0.30

 Medium—no (%)

NA

736 (90.0)

 

551 (90.6)

185 (88.1)

 

 High—no (%)

NA

82 (10.0)

 

57 (9.4)

25 (11.9)

 

PeLOD score, first 24h in PICUe—mean (SD)

NA

22 (12–32)

–

22 (12–32)

21 (11–31)

0.012

PIM3 scoref—mean (SD)

NA

− 3.8 (− 4.4 to − 2.7))

–

− 3.9 (− 4.4 to − 2.9)

− 3.0 (− 4.3 to − 0.9)

< 0.0001

PIM3 probability of deathg (%)—mean (SD)

NA

2.3 (1.2–6.5)

–

2.0 (1.2–5.3)

4.6 (1.4–10.4)

< 0.0001

Randomisation to late-PN

NA

412 (50.4)

 -

303 (49.8)

109 (51.9)

0.60

Diagnostic category

  

–

  

< 0.0001

 Cardiac surgery—no (%)

NA

364 (44.5)

 

308 (50.7)

56 (26.7)

 

 Elective other surgery—no (%)

NA

116 (14.2)

 

85 (14.0)

31 (14.8)

 

 Urgent other surgery—no (%)

NA

142 (17.4)

 

96 (15.8)

46 (21.9)

 

 Medical diagnosis—no (%)

NA

196 (24.0)

 

119 (19.6)

77 (36.7)

 

Malignancy—no (%)

0 (0.0)

39 (4.8)

< 0.0001

18 (3.0)

21 (10.0)

0.0001

Syndromeh—no (%)

4 (1.0)

168 (20.5)

< 0.0001

118 (19.4)

50 (23.8)

0.17

  1. GC glucocorticoids, IQR interquartile range, NA not applicable, no number, PeLOD paediatric logistic organ dysfunction score, PICU paediatric intensive care unit, PIM3 paediatric index of mortality 3 score, PN parenteral nutrition, SD standard deviation
  2. aParticipants were classified according to race and geographical origin by the investigators
  3. bThe education level is the average of the paternal and maternal educational level, and calculated based upon the 3-point scale subdivisions as made by the Algemene Directie Statistiek (Belgium; statbel.fgov.be/nl/) and the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (The Netherlands; statline.cbs.nl): Low (= 1), middle (= 2) and high (= 3) educational level (see Additional file 1: Methods A5)
  4. cThe occupation level is the average of the paternal and maternal occupation level, which is calculated based upon the International Isco System 4-point scale for professions (see Additional file 1: Methods A5)
  5. dScores on the Screening Tool for Risk on Nutritional Status and Growth (STRONGkids) range from 0 to 5, with a score of 0 indicating a low risk of malnutrition, a score of 1 to 3 indicating medium risk and a score of 4 to 5 indicating high risk
  6. ePaediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction (PeLOD) scores range from 0 to 71, with higher scores indicating more severe illness
  7. fPaediatric Index of Mortality 3 (PIM3) scores, with higher scores indicating a higher risk of mortality
  8. gPaediatric Index of Mortality 3 (PIM3) probability of death
  9. hA pre-randomisation syndrome or illness a priori defined as affecting or possibly affecting development (see Additional file 1: Methods A1)
  10. iChi-square test for categorical variables and Wilcoxon signed rank test for continuous variables was used to calculate p values
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Clinical Epigenetics

ISSN: 1868-7083

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