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Table 2 Blood cell counts and chemistry on day of diagnosis, neuroimaging, cerebrospinal fluid data, treatment characteristics, complications, and outcomes of patients with meningitis and/or encephalitis with and without identified infectious pathogens

From: Predictors of infectious meningitis or encephalitis: the yield of cerebrospinal fluid in a cross-sectional study

 

Total cohort (n = 372)

Patients with identified pathogens (n = 159)

Patients without identified pathogens (n = 213)

p-value

Blood cell counts and chemistry on day of diagnosis

 White blood cell count (× 109/l; median, IQR)

8.4

6.6–12.0

9.1

7.0–13.7

8.2

6.7–11.6

0.060

 C-reactive protein (mg/l; median, IQR)

7.8

1.7–48.3

16.8

3.5–97.5

5.9

1.3–34.2

0.002

 Albumin (g/l; median, IQR)

34

30–38

33

29–38

34

30–38

0.245

 Lactate (mmol/l; median, IQR)

1.2

0.9–1.7

1.3

0.9–1.9

1.2

0.9–1.6

0.136

Neuroimaging

 Neuroimaging performed (n, %)

335

90.1

140

88.1

195

91.6

0.265

 Computed tomography performed (n, %)

247

66.4

112

70.4

135

63.4

0.154

 Magnetic resonance imaging performed (n, %)

237

63.7

84

52.8

153

71.8

< 0.001

 Brain lesions on neuroimaging in patients with imaging (n, % patients with imaging)

203

4.6

92

65.7

111

56.9

0.104

  Brain edema in patients with imaging (n, % patients with imaging)

39

10.5

19

13.6

20

10.3

0.351

  Brain inflammation in patients with imaging (n, % patients with imaging)

68

18.3

35

25.0

33

16.9

0.070

Cerebrospinal fluid data

 White blood cells (× 106/l; median, IQR)

65

10–261

171

43–575

33

5–122

< 0.001

  Polynuclear cells (×106/l; median, IQR)

5

0.3–37.4

16

3–187

1

0–12

 

  Mononuclear cells (×106/l; median, IQR)

39

6–139

81

16–217

21

4–90

 

 Protein (mg/l; median, IQR)

807

497–1449

1650

629–2470

684

449–1111

< 0.001

 Lactate (mmol/l; median, IQR)

2.4

1.8–3.5

3

2.1–7.5

2.1

1.6–2.8

< 0.001

 Glucose (mmol/l; median, IQR)

3.2

2.6–3.8

2.9

1.9–3.5

3.3

2.9–3.9

< 0.001

 Glucose ratio (CSF/serum; median, IQR)

0.6

0.5–0.6

0.5

0.4–0.6

0.6

0.5–0.7

< 0.001

Treatment

 Hospital stay (days; median, IQR)

11

5–19

14

6–21

9

4–17

0.015

 Treatment on ICUs (n, %)

141

37.9

69

43.4

72

33.8

0.059

 ICU stay of patients in ICUs (days; median, IQR)

3

2–7

4

2–7

3

2–7

0.208

 Mechanical ventilation (n, %)

43

11.6

29

18.2

14

6.6

< 0.001

 Empiric antimicrobial treatment (n, %)

323

86.8

151

95.0

172

80.8

< 0.001

 Antiseizure drugs (n, %)

121

32.5

51

32.1

70

32.9

0.872

 Vasopressors (n, %)

4411.8

 

28

17.6

16

7.5

0.003

Complications

 Arterial hypotension (n, %)

44

11.8

28

17.6

16

7.5

0.003

 Epileptic seizures (n, %)

25

6.7

14

8.8

11

5.2

0.165

 Status epilepticus (n, %)

20

5.4

7

4.4

13

6.1

0.643

 Aspiration pneumonia (n, %)

13

3.5

6

3.8

7

3.3

0.785

 Brain herniation (n, %)

6

1.6

4

2.5

2

0.9

0.408

In-hospital outcomes

 Death (n, %)

11

3.0

3

1.9

8

3.8

0.365

 Care withdrawal (n, %)

7

1.9

3

1.9

4

1.9

1.000

 Return to premorbid baseline (n, %)

236

63.4

102

64.2

134

62.9

0.806

  1. IQR interquartile range, ICU intensive care unit; Boldp-values indicate significance set at ap-value of < 0.002 after correction for multiple comparisons (Bonferroni)
  2. All continuous variables were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test
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BMC Infectious Diseases

ISSN: 1471-2334

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