The effects of saffron supplementation on inflammation and hematological parameters in patients with sepsis: a randomized controlled trial

Table 3 Changes from baseline in the severity of disease in the saffron and placebo groups

Variables	Group	Before intervention	After intervention	P-value^**	Mean changes^#	p-value
APACHE II	Saffron	15.80 ± 5.35	13.25 ± 3.18	0.003	-2.55 ± 5.47	<0.001
	Placebo	15.64 ± 4.93	16.43 ± 4.64	0.12	0.78 ± 3.37
	P-value	0.88	<0.001
	Cohen’s d effect size (CI)	0.03 (-0.39,0.45)	-0.8 (-1.22, -0.38)
NUTRIC	Saffron	4.24 ± 1.36	3.22 ± 0.90	<0.001	-1.02 ± 1.01	<0.001
	Placebo	4 ± 1.43	4.18 ± 1.49	0.13	0.2 ± 0.87
	P-value	0.41	<0.001
	Cohen’s d effect size (CI)	0.17 (-0.25, 0.59)	-0.78 (-1.2, -0.36)
SOFA	Saffron	5.78 ± 1.48	4.78 ± 0.92	<0.001	-1 ± 1.07	0.001
	Placebo	5.42 ± 1.51	5.36 ± 1.41	0.80	-0.05 ± 1.53
	P-value	0.25	0.02
	Cohen’s d effect size (CI)I	0.24 (-0.18, 0.66)	-0.49 (-0.91, -0.07)
GCS	Saffron	7.16 ± 2.14	7.48 ± 1.82	0.30	0.32 ± 2.12	0.33
	Placebo	7.02 ± 2.42	7.09 ± 2.03	0.82	0.06 ± 1.94
	P-value	0.33	0.52
	Cohen’s d effect size (CI)	0.06 (-0.36, 0.48)	0.2 (-0.22, 0.62)
Four score	Saffron	9.52 ± 2.54	9.83 ± 2.22	0.26	0.31 ± 1.88	0.50
	Placebo	9.18 ± 2.61	9.88 ± 2.81	0.05	0.70 ± 2.28
	P-value	0.52	0.93
	Cohen’s d effect size (CI)	0.13 (-0.29, 0.55)	-0.02 (-0.44, 0.4)

Abbreviations: APACHE II; Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, NUTRIC; Nutrition Risk in Critically ill, SOFA; Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, GCS; Glasgow Coma Scale, CI: confidence interval
Data are shown as means ± standard deviation
*P-values were obtained from independent sample t-test, **paired-sample t-test, and ^#analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with the adjustment for baseline values

ISSN: 1475-2891