Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of patients on admission expressed as means (± standard deviation) or numbers (%)

Characteristics	Bacterial meningitis n = 35	Viral meningitis n = 218	P
Demographic characteristics
Mean age (years)	55 ± 20	35 ± 18	ns
Male, n (%)	17 (48)	116 (53)	ns
Clinical characteristics
Temperature, n (%)	38.9 ± 0.2	39.1 ± 0.2	ns
Headache, n (%)	14 (40)	158 (72)	0.0001
Nuchal rigidity, n (%)	16 (46)	121 (55)	ns
Seizures, n (%)	3 (9)	4 (2)	0.02
Focal neurologic signs, n (%)	2 (6)	6 (3)	ns
Confusion	11 (31)	31 (14)	0.01
CGS (mean score ± SD)	13 ± 2	14 ± 2	ns
SAPS II	18 ± 9	8 ± 4	0.0001

CGS, Coma Glasgow Scale; SAPS II, simplified acute physiologic score II.