Table 1.
Comparison of the admission characteristics of all patients recruited into the study
| Supine (n = 112) |
Semi-recumbent (n = 117) |
p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (range) age (years) | 34 (9–67) | 38 (13–69) | 0.159 |
| Male | 87 (77.7%) | 96 (82.1%) | 0.409 |
| Transferred from another hospital | 84 (75.0%) | 91 (77.7%) | 0.621 |
| Prior antibiotics | 20 (17.9%) | 37 (31.6%) | 0.016 |
| Underlying medical condition | 10 (8.9%) | 7 (6.0%) | 0.395 |
| Injecting drug user | 6 (5.4%) | 5 (4.3%) | 0.701 |
| Smoker | 52 (46.4%) | 61 (52.1%) | 0.388 |
| Vaccination as a child | 5 (4.5%) | 6 (5.1%) | 0.814 |
| Entry site | |||
| Foot | 50 (44.6%) | 59 (50.4%) | 0.381 |
| Unknown | 16 (14.3%) | 21 (17.9%) | 0.452 |
| Injection | 6 (5.4%) | 4 (3.4%) | 0.473 |
| Other | 40 (35.7%) | 33 (28.2%) | 0.223 |
| Mean (range) incubation period (days) | 7 (4–13) | 7 (4–23) | 0.099 |
| Mean (range) period of onset (h) | 24 (12–79) | 48 (12–96) | 0.689 |
| History of spasms | 51 (45.5%) | 50 (42.7%) | 0.670 |
| History of sweating | 12 (10.7%) | 18 (15.4%) | 0.295 |
| Generalised spasms | 110 (98.2%) | 110 (94.0%) | 0.172 |
| Mean (range) tetanus severity score | 2.31 (−6 to 25) | 1.91 (−5 to 22) | 0.582 |
| Mean (range) white cell count (×109/l) | 9.5 (5.3–14.7) | 8.4 (5.5–14.7) | 0.503 |
| Mean (range) creatinine (mg/%) | 1.0 (0.7–1.3) | 1.0 (0.7–1.4) | 0.359 |
Data are number (%) unless otherwise indicated.