TABLE 1.
Characteristics in 675 children with initial CSF shunt infection
| Factor | No. of Patients (%) or Median (IQR) |
|---|---|
| initial CSF shunt placement | |
| age | |
| ≤30 days | 233 (34.5) |
| 1–6 mos | 200 (29.6) |
| 6–48 mos | 152 (22.5) |
| ≥48 mos | 90 (13.3) |
| sex | |
| male | 362 (53.6) |
| female | 313 (46.4) |
| race/ethnicity* | |
| non-Latino black | 160 (25.0) |
| Latino | 78 (12.2) |
| Asian | 15 (2.3) |
| other | 65 (10.2) |
| non-Latino white | 321 (50.2) |
| payer | |
| public | 349 (51.7) |
| private | 188 (27.9) |
| other | 138 (20.4) |
| indication for CSF shunt placement | |
| IVH | 77 (11.4) |
| myelomeningocele | 72 (10.7) |
| CNS tumor | 60 (8.9) |
| trauma | 10 (1.5) |
| meningitis | 18 (2.7) |
| comorbidities† | |
| none | 459 (68.0) |
| 1 | 176 (26.1) |
| ≥2 | 40 (5.9) |
| distal shunt location | |
| VP | 661 (97.9) |
| other | 14 (2.1) |
| initial CSF shunt infection | |
| age | |
| ≤30 days | 23 (3.4) |
| 1–6 mos | 240 (35.6) |
| 6–48 mos | 281 (41.6) |
| ≥48 mos | 131 (19.4) |
| interval CSF shunt revisions | 1 (1, 2) |
| interval time from initial shunt placement (days) | 72 (27–340) |
| interval time from last op (days) | 34 (17–97) |
| hospital vol‡ | |
| 1–20 | 35 (5.2) |
| 21–40 | 186 (27.6) |
| 41–60 | 330 (50.1) |
| ≥61 | 116 (17.2) |
| surgeon vol‡ | |
| ≤10 | 213 (31.6) |
| 11–20 | 265 (39.3) |
| 30 | 108 (16.0) |
| >30 | 89 (13.2) |
| op approach to initial shunt infection (483 patients) § | |
| shunt removal/new shunt placement | 286 (59.2) |
| externalization | 59 (12.2) |
| nonop management | 64 (13.3) |
| complete shunt removal | 74 (15.3) |
| duration of intravenous antibiotic use (days) | 9 (0–16) |
*
Race/ethnicity data were missing for 36 children.
†
Chronic medical condition count.
‡
The volume represents the number of initial CSF shunt placements/year.
§
Those whose surgical assignments could not be determined were excluded.