highly significantp -value < 0.005
Furthermore, 42 metabolites showed a highly significant association with the maximal total Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA )score during the course of the disease (i.e., Pearson’s correlation test, p -value < 0.005, and correlation factor > 0.6); these top-ranked metabolites included 23 amino acid metabolites and a subset of pregnenolone/progestin metabolites.