Skip to main content

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of two patient groups

From: Pro-cathepsin D as a diagnostic marker in differentiating malignant from benign pleural effusion: a retrospective cohort study

 

Malignant pleural effusion (n = 21)

Benign pleural effusion (n = 60)

P-value

Age, years

68.0 (59.0–81.0)

58.0 (35.5–73.5)

0.016

Male sex

14 (66.7)

41 (68.3)

0.888

Diagnosis of MPE

 Lung cancer

  Adenocarcinoma

10

  

  Squamous cell carcinoma

7

  

  Small cell carcinoma

2

  

 Breast cancer

1

  

 Cholangiocarcinoma

1

  

Diagnosis of BPE

 Pleural tuberculosis

 

37

 

 Parapneumonic effusion

 

23

 

Pleural fluid findings

 Specific gravity

1.020 (1.015–1.020)

1.020 (1.015–1.020)

1.000

 pH

7.5 (7.5–7.5)

7.5 (7.5–7.5)

0.870

 WBC, /μl

450.0 (288.0–710.0)

1169.0 (397.5–2124.0)

0.003

  Neutrophil, %

30.0 (20.0–40.0)

30.0 (20.0–54.0)

0.521

  Lymphocyte, %

70.0 (60.0–80.0)

70.0 (46.0–80.0)

0.521

 Glucose, mg/dL

114.0 (106.5–151.0)

95.5 (69.3–139.3)

0.037

 Protein, g/dL

4.2 (3.7–5.0)

4.6 (2.9–5.4)

0.845

 Albumin, g/dL

2.3 (2.0–2.9)

2.4 (1.6–2.7)

0.551

 LDH, IU/L

417.0 (235.5–548.0)

447.0 (211.0–881.0)

0.552

 ADA, IU/L

17.0 (14.0–24.0)

83.0 (17.8–109.2)

0.001

Pro-cathepsin D

 Plasma, pg/mL

0.469 (0.421–0.554)

0.455 (0.405–0.549)

0.528

 Pleural fluid, pg/mL

0.651 (0.601–0.716)

0.590 (0.511–0.692)

0.034

  1. Data are presented as the median (interquartile range) or no. (%)
  2. MPE Malignant pleural effusion, BPE Benign pleural effusion, WBC White blood cell, LDH Lactate dehydrogenase, ADA Adenosine deaminase