Table 1 Patients’ characteristics
|  | Excluded from randomized controlled trial (N = 295) | Included in randomized controlled trial (N = 406) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|
Demographics and background | |||
 Age (Mean ± SD), year | 65 ± 18 | 66 ± 17 | 0.411 |
 Gender (female) | 101 (34.2%) | 151 (37.2%) | 0.421 |
 Country |  |  | 0.000 |
  Israel | 274 (92.9%) | 270 (66.5%) |  |
  Greece | 16 (5.4%) | 76 (18.7%) |  |
  Italy | 5 (1.7%) | 60 (14.8%) |  |
 Admitted from home | 204 (69.2%) | 276 (68%) | 0.742 |
 BMI, kg/m2 | 27.1 (6.7) | 27.4 (5.8) | 0.610 |
 Charlson Score (Mean ± SD) | 2 ± 2 | 2 ± 2 | 0.497 |
 Dementia | 17 (5.8%) | 49 (10.7%) | 0.050 |
 Diabetes | 61 (20.7%) | 90 (22.2%) | 0.636 |
 Chronic kidney disease | 71 (24.1%) | 79 (19.5%) | 0.129 |
 Hematological Malignancy | 25 (8.5%) | 14 (3.4%) | 0.004 |
 Congestive heart failure | 66 (22.4%) | 92 (22.7%) | 0.928 |
 Chronic pulmonary disease | 57 (19.3%) | 91 (22.4%) | 0.322 |
 Immune suppressive therapy | 54 (18.3%) | 61 (15%) | 0.247 |
 Known colonization by pathogen before infection | 69 (23.4%) | 96 (23.6%) | 0.937 |
 Recent surgery | 83 (28.1%) | 114 (28.1%) | 0.987 |
Status at infection onset (culture taken time) | |||
 Temperature, °C (SD) | 37.9 (1.7) | 38.0 (1.7) | 0.655 |
 Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg (SD) | 106 (24) | 109 (21) | 0.054 |
 Haemodynamic support | 68 (24.2%) | 75 (18.5%) | 0.069 |
 Mechanical ventilation (invasive) | 198 (69.5%) | 264 (65%) | 0.221 |
 Haemodialysis | 11 (3.9%) | 27 (6.7%) | 0.118 |
 SOFA score (Mean ± SD) | 6 ± 3 | 6 ± 3 | 0.755 |
 Creatinine Clearance (Cockcroft-Gault Equation), mL/min (Percentiles 25–75) | 59.79 (32.54–108.58) | 69.95 (41.21–126.27) | 0.012 |
 Albumin, g/dL (SD) | 2.3 (0.6) | 2.4 (0.7) | 0.285 |
 White blood cells, thousands/mL (SD) | 13.22 (9.85) | 14.12 (8.89) | 0.212 |
 Arterial line | 76 (25.8%) | 151 (37.2%) | 0.001 |
 Central venous catheter | 119 (40.3%) | 225 (55.4%) | 0.000 |
 Urinary catheter | 228 (77.3%) | 354 (87.2%) | 0.001 |
 Nasogastric tube | 201 (68.1%) | 285 (70.2%) | 0.559 |