HP and Obesity: The median (IQR) level of zonulin in the deceased group was 3.264 (4.7096) ng/mL (min 0.7099 ng/mL – max 40 ng/mL, Table 2) showing a significant association with outcome (p=0.0002, Figure 2) and obesity (p=0.017, Figure 2) in the bivariate analysis.