Serum complement C4b, fibronectin, and prolidase are associated with the pathological changes of pulmonary tuberculosis

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 4 Correlations for clinical characteristics and serum protein levels of the pulmonary tuberculosis patients (N = 115)

		Sputum smear	NTA classification	C4b	FN	PEPD
Sputum smear	r_s	1	0.19	0.11	0.22	0.10
	P ^a	.	0.043^*	0.244	0.028^*	0.287
NTA classification	r_s		1	0.19	−0.18	0.08
	P ^a		.	0.045^*	0.086	0.420
C4b	r_s			1	0.10	0.29
	P ^a			.	0.354	0.003^**
FN	r_s				1	−0.05
	P ^a				.	0.659
PEPD	r_s					1
	P ^a					.

The r_s in [−0.3, -0.1] or [0.1, 0.3] means weak correlation, in [−0.5, -0.3] or [0.3, 0.5] means moderate correlation, and in [−0.7, -0.5] or [0.5, 0.7] means significant correlation. A P-value of less than 0.05 indicates statistical significance. N: number of subjects; ^a P value for Spearman Correlation. ^* P < 0.05; ^** P < 0.01.