Diagnostic value and safety of medical thoracoscopy for pleural effusion of different causes

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population (n = 106)

Variables	Total	Malignant (n = 54)	Tuberculous (n = 43)	Inflammatory (n = 9)	χ2/Z	P value
Age in yr	59 (49-68)	62 (54-70)	54 (43-66)a	58 (51-72)	7.359	0.025
Sex					1.723	0.427
Male	67 (63.1)	34	29	4
Female	39 (36.8)	20	14	5
Hospital stay in d	15.00 (12.00-17.25)	16.00 (14.00-19.25)	13.00 (11.00-17.00)a	15.00 (12.50-23.00)	7.773	0.021
Disease duration in d	30.00 (15.00-60.00)	30.00 (20.00-60.00)	30.00 (10.00-60.00)	30.00 (8.00-30.00)	3.375	0.185
Smoking history	41(38.7)	19	18	4	0.688	0.756
Personal tumor	12 (11.3)	9	1a	2	6.815	0.029
Family tumor	2 (1.9)	2	0	0	1.735	0.583
Tuberculous history	2 (1.9)	0	1	1	4.351	0.076
Hypertension	19 (17.9)	9	8	2	0.431	0.930
Diabetes	11 (10.4)	5	4	2	1.760	0.428
Coronary disease	6 (5.7)	3	3	0	0.336	1.000
Chronic lung disease	3 (2.8)	0	2	1	4.561	0.061
Other chronic diseases	25 (23.6)	12	10	3	0.745	0.744
Tuberculosis DNA	1 (0.9)	0	1	0	2.831	0.643
Tuberculosis triple antibody	13 (12.3)	3	10	0	7.807	0.080
Tuberculosis IgG antibody	5 (4.7)	2	3	0	4.518	0.310
MTB/RIF	4 (3.8)	1	1	2	8.230	0.061
T-SPOT	45 (42.5)	13	29 a	3	19.217	< 0.001
ESR in mm/h	28.00 (12.00-44.00)	25.50 (12.00-39.25)	27.00 (12.00-34.00)	62.00 (50.00-71.50)a, b	11.009	0.004
Side of effusion					6.521	0.151
Left	31 (29.2)	19	10	2
Right	52 (49.1)	28	21	3
Bilateral	23 (21.7)	7	12	4
Size of effusion					5.333	0.069
Small	2 (1.9)	0	1	1
Moderate	32 (30.2)	12	17	3
Large	72 (67.9)	42	25	5
Effusion appearance					14.815	< 0.001
Bloody	39 (36.8)	29	7	3
Non-bloody	67 (63.2)	25	36a	6
CEA in ng/mL	2.22 (1.25-4.66)	3.28 (1.73-9.10)	1.40 (0.89-2.3)a	1.45 (0.94-4.85)	21.293	< 0.001
NSE in ng/mL	16.29 (10.96-20.94)	16.44 (10.91-20.80)	16.65 (13.00-23.19)	11.40 (9.94-14.30)	3.934	0.140
CA125 in U/mL	75.63 (33.02-229.63)	65.15 (31.64-231.88)	84.89 (40.61-285.80)	84.73 (36.91-112.84)	0.830	0.660
SCCA in ng/mL	0.70 (0.50-0.90)	0.70 (0.50-0.80)	0.70 (0.50-1.00)	0.80 (0.55-1.15)	1.785	0.410
PROGPR in pg/mL	24.40 (17.28-35.38)	29.80 (19.58-37.38)	20.10 (15.80-27.50)a	25.90 (17.45-55.75)	7.874	0.020
CYFRA in ng/mL	3.35 (2.02-8.70)	5.51 (3.35-14.46)	2.06 (1.48-2.90)a	2.54 (1.38-9.90)	33.461	< 0.001
Characteristics of pleural effusion
LDH in U/L	279.00 (182.50-485.25)	333.50 (187.00-495.75)	245.00 (183.00-383.00)	699.00 (106.00-947.50)	2.950	0.229
Protein in g/L	43.50 (36.90-48.48)	42.15 (36.98-46.58)	46.00 (37.20-49.90)	43.00 (29.40-47.40)	2.008	0.366
Glucose in mmol/L	6.16 (4.97-7.31)	6.37 (5.15-7.33)	5.87 (5.07-7.08)	5.57 (3.97-10.67)	0.218	0.897
ADA in U/L	14.00 (8.00-31.00)	9.00 (7.00-13.00)	27.00 (16.00-37.00)a	17.00 (6.50-34.50)	26.167	< 0.001
Nucleated cell	1345.50 (770.75-2847.25)	950.00 (569.50-2089.25)	2283.00 (1312.00-3631.00)a	1000.00 (245.00-4430.00)	15.049	0.001
Mononucleated cell	1079.00 (584.25-2317.50)	753.50 (420.25-1629.50)	1889.00 (1057.00-3018.00)a	880.00 (206.50-3658.00)	17.186	< 0.001
Multinucleated cells	99.00 (48.00-304.75)	108.50 (54.75-257.25)	88.00 (37.00-335.00)	120.00 (47.50-1140.50)	1.331	0.514

^aP < 0.05 vs Malignant group.

^bP < 0.05 vs Tuberculous group.

ADA: Adenosine deaminase; CA125: Carbohydrate antigen 125; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; CYFRA: Cytokeratin fragment; ESR: Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; LDH: Lactate dehydrogenase; MTB/RIF: Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin (rapid microbial resistance test method); NSE: Neuron-specific enolase; PROGPR: Pro gastrin releasing peptide; SCCA: Squamous cell carcinoma associated antigen; T-SPOT: T lymphocyte spot test.