The primary objective was to detect a correlation between maximum PCT and SOFA-score. A total of 180 subjects were required in order to significantly demonstrate that the correlation coefficient is above 0.2 with a power of 90%. Means ± standard deviations (SDs) or medians with interquartile ranges (IQR) are reported as appropriate. The three types of pneumonia were compared using tie-corrected exact Kruskal-Wallis tests. Pair-wise comparisons of HAP and VAP to CAP were added, based on tie-corrected exact Mann-Whitney U-tests. Odds ratios and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve methodology were used to judge the predictive power of PCT for outcome.