Figure 1

Early phase metabolic patterns were characteristic of the pathologic process significantly differing between sepsis and TBI . Box plots of a) glucose (GL), b) triglycerides (TG), c) low-density-lipoproteins (LDL), and d) high-density-lipoproteins (HDL) in healthy children and in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) after Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), sepsis (S), or severe sepsis (SS). Metabolic patterns differed among the four groups: TG levels were significantly increased and TC, LDL, and HDL significantly lower in septic compared to C and/or TBI groups (p < 0.01)*. GL did not differ between TBI and sepsis groups, whereas only LDL differed between S and SS (p < 0.02)**. The bold black line in box plots indicates the median per group, the bottom of the box indicates the 25th percentile and the top of the box represents the 75th percentile; the T-bars (whiskers) and horizontal lines show minimum and maximum values of the calculated non-outlier values.