Clinical characteristics of the patients
| Patient characteristics | |
| Age yrs | 46±17 (16–79) |
| APACHE score | 13.1±4.5 (5–23) |
| Severity of underlying disease | |
| Fatal or ultimately fatal within 5 yrs | 8 |
| Nonfatal | 27 |
| Duration of prior ventilation days | 4.6±4 (2–19) |
| Temperature °C | 38.4±0.4 (38–39.3) |
| WBC 109·L–1 | 12.1±3.4 (5.6–18.6) |
| Pa,O2/Fi,O2 | 217±76 (87–382) |
| Radiological score | 3.89±1.3 (2–7) |
Data are presented as mean±sd with range in parentheses unless otherwise stated
APACHE: Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation; WBC: white blood cell
Pa,O2: oxygen tension in arterial blood
FI,O2: inspiratory oxygen fraction