Table 1 Characteristics of studies included

Kyriazopoulou et al., [30]

Greece (7)

256 (59/54)

ICU ^b

Medical patients with sepsis

80 ± 10 / 78 ± 13

Ali et al., [32]

Egypt (1)

60 (43/47)

ICU

Patients with sepsis

57 ± 1 / 56 ± 2

Vishalashi et al., [31]

India (1)

90 (51/36)

ICU

Medical/surgical (41/59%) patients with sepsis

42 ± 17 / 47 ± 16

Labro et al., [33]

France (5)

159 (35/47)

ICU

Mechanically ventilated medical patients with coma

54 ± 18 / 52 ± 17

Lhopitallier et al., [54]

France (60)

469 (65/53)

primary care

Medical patients with pneumonia

53 ± 18 / 50 ± 18

Mazlan et al., [34]

Malaysia (1)

85 (37/55)

ICU

Medical patients with VAP

49 ± 17 / 53 ± 17

Jeon et al., [35]

South-Korea (4)

52 (67/52)

ICU

Medical patients with sepsis

69 (61–75) / 70 (63–77)

Montassier et al., [56]

France (12)

285 (44/38)

ED

Medical patients with CAP

67 (46–83) / 67 (47–81)

O'Riordan et al., [55]

Ireland (1)

119 (39/58)

respiratory ward

Medical patients with LRTI

69 ± 14 / 68 ± 15

Daubin et al., [36]

France (11)

302 (29/34)

ICU

Medical patients with AECOPD

67 (61–76) / 67 (61–75)

Kip et al.,^c [37]

Netherlands (15)

1546 (39/40)

ICU

Medical patients with sepsis

65 (54–75) / 65 (57–75)

van der Does et al., [58]

Netherlands (2)

551 (48/44)

ED

Medical patients with fever

61 (43–70) / 62 (44–73)

Huang et al., [57]

USA (14)

1656 (57/57)

ED

Medical patients with LRTI

53 ± 18 / 53 ± 19

Liu et al., [38]

China (1)

98 (45/41)

ICU

Patients with sepsis

66 ± 9 / 65 ± 10

Xu et al., [16]

China (1)

156 (43/43)

ICU

Patients with sepsis

67 ± 9 / 65 ± 9

Slieker et al., [60]

Switzerland (1)

162 (42/43)

Surgical ward /ICU (88/12%)

Surgical patients with peritonitis

56 [36-73] / 57 [36-71]

Mahmutaj et al., [59]

Kosovo (1)

100 (32/38)

surgical ward

Surgical patients with acute abdomen

39 ± 20 / 47 ± 19

Ulm et al., [61]

Germany (10)

227 (54/57)

neurology ward

Medical patients after ACM stroke

76 ± 12 / 76 ± 11

Corti et al., [62]

Denmark (1)

120 (66/55)

ED

Medical patients with AECOPD

72 (64–80) / 73 (61–78)

Bloos et al., [39]

Germany (33)

1089 (NA)

ICU

Medical/surgical (43/57%) patients with sepsis

NA

de Jong et al., [40]

Netherlands (15)

1546 (39/40)

ICU

Medical patients with sepsis

65 (54–75) / 65 (57–75)

Lima et al., [63]

Brazil (1)

61 (44/52)

Hematology ward

Medical patients with febrile neutropenia (FN)

36 (26–53.8) / 33 (26.50)

Branche et al., 2015 [64]

USA (1)

150 (58/54)

General ward

Medical patients with non-pneumonic LRTI

61 (51–72) / 64 (50–74)

Drozdov et al., [65]

Switzerland (1)

125 (70/81)

ED

Medical patients with non-catheter-related UTI

71 (44–81) / 75 (51–80)

Verduri et al., [66]

Italy (18)

178 (13/14)

Respiratory ward

Medical patients with AECOPD

74 (69–78) / 73 (65–78)

Najafi et al., [41]

Iran (1)

60 (33/40)

ICU

Medical/surgical (88/12%) patients with SIRS

40 ± 18 / 41 ± 21

Ogasawara et al., [67]

Japan (1)

96 (55/46)

Respiratory ward

Medical patients with aspiration pneumonia

85 (81–92) / 87 (85–89)

Shehabi et al., [42]

Australia (11)

394 (53/40)

ICU

Medical surgical patients (88/12%) with suspected bacterial infection

63 ± 15 / 66 ± 16

Oliveira et al., [43]

Brazil (2)

94 (49/42)

ICU

Medical/surgical patients (86/14%) with severe sepsis or septic shock

60 ± 13 / 60 ± 19

Annane et al., [44]

France (8)

58 (20/32)

ICU

Medical/surgical patients (97/3%) with suspected sepsis

59 (40–67) / 54 (46–73)

Deliberato et al., [45]

Brazil (1)

81 (43/46)

ICU

Patients with sepsis

68 ± 21 / 62 ± 19

Tang et al., [68]

China (1)

260 (50/54)

ED

Medical patients with acute exacerbation of asthma

54 ± 14 / 55 ± 15

Layios et al., [46]

Belgium (1)

509 (48/39)

ICU

Medical/surgical patients (60/40%) with suspected sepsis

66 (55–76) / 65 (53–75)

Qu et al., [47]

China (1)

71 (29/28)

ICU

Medical patients with acute pancreatitis

43 ± 11 / 44 ± 11

Jensen et al., [48]

Denmark (9)

1200 (65/64)

ICU

Medical/surgical patients (59/41%) with sepsis

67 (58–76) / 67 (58–75)

Long et al., [69]

Japan (1)

162 (40/38)

ED

Medical patients with CAP

44 ± 16 / 47 ± 19

Maravić-Stojković et al., [49]

Serbia (1)

205 (30/33)

ICU

Patients after open heart cardiac surgery

60 ± 9 / 60 ± 10

Burkhardt et al., [70]

Germany (15)

550 (60/59)

Primary care

Medical patients with respiratory tract infection

41 ± 15 / 43 ± 16

Bouadma et al., [10]

France (7)

621 (33/35)

ICU

Medical/surgical patients (89/11%) with suspected bacterial infection

61 ± 15.2 / 62 ± 15

Stolz et al., [50]

Switzerland, USA (7)

101 (25/26)

ICU

Medical/surgical (52.5/47.5%) patients with VAP

53 [21–88] / 59 (18–83)

Kristoffersen et al., [71]

Denmark (3)

210 (48/46)

General ward

Medical patients with suspected LRTI

67 ± 18 / 67 ± 16

Hochreiter et al., [51]

Germany (1)

110 (49/ 46)

ICU

Surgical patients with sepsis

67 ± 14 / 67 ± 16

Schuetz et al., [72]

Switzerland (6)

1359 (40/45)

ED

Medical patients with LRTI

73 (59–82) / 72 (59–82)

Briel et al., [73]

Switzerland (53)

458 (58/62)

Primary care

Medical patients with respiratory tract infection

48 ± 18 / 48 ± 18

Schroeder et al., [52]

Germany (1)

27 (43/46)

ICU

Surgical patients with severe sepsis

69 ± 11 / 68 ± 14

Nobre et al., [53]

Switzerland (1)

68 (32/32)

ICU

Medical/surgical (75/25%) patients with sepsis

64 ± 12 / 70 ± 14

Stolz et al., [74]

Switzerland (1)

208 (51/59)

ED

Medical patients with AECOPD

70 (65–77) / 70 (65–79)

Christ-Crain et al., [75]

Switzerland (1)

302 (38/38)

ED

Medical patients with CAP

70 ± 17 / 70 ± 17

Christ-Crain et al., [76]

Switzerland (1)

243 (46/49)

ED

Medical patients with LRTI

63 ± 20 / 65 ± 17