A particular strength of this observation lies in the fact that, despite baseline differences in certain variables (i.e., history of myocardial infarction and COPD) and in other potential confounders (age, gender, BMI and type of infection: gram-negative, gram-positive and fungal), the CD14 rs2569190 C allele remained a prognostic variable with a significant effect on the short-term outcome (30-day survival) in our cohort of sepsis patients. Here, CD14 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.