Demographic, cytological and biochemical characteristics in pleural effusions*
| Variable | Beijing cohort | Wuhan cohort | p Value† | ||||||||
| TPE (n=51) | MPE (n=61) | PPE (n=28) | Miscellaneous (n=14) | p Value‡ | TPE (n=44) | MPE (n=47) | PPE (n=19) | Miscellaneous (n=10) | p Value‡ | 0.826 | |
| Sex, male, % | 64.7 | 53.8 | 64.3 | 64.3 | 0.850 | 65.9 | 55.3 | 63.2 | 70.0 | 0.694 | 0.548 |
| Age, years | 43.2±2.6 | 63.2±1.6 | 61.5±2.4 | 61.8±4.7 | <0.001 | 45.5±2.7 | 59.5±1.5 | 62.2±3.6 | 57.6±4.4 | 0.003 | 0.116 |
| RBC×109/L | 2.4 1.6‒5.0 | 3.9 0.9‒8.9 | 2.6 0.8‒5.4 | 1.3 0.5‒6.5 | 0.341 | 2.3 0.9‒6.3 | 3.6 1.1‒8.8 | 2.5 0.9‒6.4 | 1.5 0.4‒5.4 | 0.389 | 0.788 |
| Nucleated cell counts×109/L | 2.5 1.0‒3.9 | 2.1 1.4‒3.5 | 3.8 2.3‒12.1 | 1.8 0.5‒5.4 | 0.418 | 2.4 1.3‒4.9 | 1.9 1.2‒5.0 | 4.1 1.8‒14.2 | 1.7 0.8‒5.9 | 0.392 | 0.694 |
| Protein, g/L | 47.3±3.6 | 42.5±2.7 | 47.7±2.4 | 32.6±8.2 | 0.292 | 44.4±3.0 | 46.7±3.1 | 48.2±2.5 | 30.6±7.9 | 0.264 | 0.749 |
| Glucose, mmol/L | 5.8±1.1 | 5.6±1.2 | 4.1±0.9 | 6.1±1.2 | 0.340 | 5.7±1.1 | 5.4±1.0 | 3.8±0.9 | 6.0±1.1 | 0.363 | 0.868 |
| LDH, U/L | 829 421‒1826 | 520 429‒1453 | 1056 613‒3620 | 358 124‒745 | 0.085 | 750 368‒1698 | 464 254‒1266 | 828 275‒1432 | 304 143‒681 | 0.078 | 0.493 |
*Data are presented as means±SEMs or medians (25th ‒ 75th centiles). †Comparisons were performed between the Beijing and Wuhan cohorts using Χ2 test, Student’s t test, or Mann–Whitney U test. ‡Comparisons were performed using Χ2 test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni’s test or Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA on ranks.
LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; MPE, malignant pleural effusion; PPE, parapneumonic pleural effusion; RBC, red blood cell; TPE, tuberculous pleural effusion.