TABLE 1.

Clinical and cerebrospinal fluid data from patients with definite tuberculous meningitis (liquid culture or microscopy positive) and non-tuberculous meningitis (culture negative and no anti-TB treatment given)

Characteristic	Results for persons with:		P
	Definite TBM (n = 31)	Non-TBM (n = 53)
Clinical
Mean (±SD) age (yr)	32.8 (7.7)	33.1 (11.1)	0.9
Age <36/≥36 yr (no. [%])a	20/11 (64.5/35.5)	34/19 (64.2/35.8)	0.9
Sex, male/female (no. [%])	15/16 (48.4/51.6)	17/36 (32.1/67.9)	0.2
Ethnic group, BA/M/E/I (no. [%])b	31/0/0/0 (100/0/0/0)	52/0/0/1 (98.1/0/0/1.9)	0.9
HIV status, P/N (no. [%])c	28/3 (90.3/9.7)	47/6 (88.7/11.3)	0.9
Previous TB, yes/no/unknown (no. [%])	7/21/3 (22.6/67.7/9.7)	20/31/2 (37.7/58.6/3.8)	0.2
TB contact (within 2 yr), yes/no/unknown (no. [%])	9/19/3 (29.0/61.3/9.7)	14/37/2 (26.4/69.8/3.8)	0.5
Duration of illness, <6/≥6 days/unknown (no. [%])	6/23/2 (19.4/74.2/6.5)	7/45/1 (13.2/84.9/1.9)	0.7
Steroid treatment, yes/no (no. [%])	8/23 (25.8/74.2)	10/43 (18.9/81.1)	0.5
CLAT positive, yes/no (no. [%])	2/27 (6.9/93.1)	26/27 (49.1/50.9)	<0.001
CD4 cells/μl (IQRd)	116 (65–196)	161 (78–261)	0.1
CSF parameter (median [IQR])
Lymphocytes (cells/μl)	117 (24–242)	32 (10–82)	0.004
Neutrophils (cells/μl)	62 (24–138)	9 (0–66)	0.001
Protein (g/liter)	1.7 (1.2–2.5)	1.1 (0.9–1.9)	0.03
CSF glucose (mmol/liter)	1.1 (1.0–1.6)	2.0 (1.5–2.7)	<0.001
CSF/serum glucose ratio	0.2 (0.2–0.3)	0.4 (0.2–0.5)	<0.001
Lymphocytes: total ratio	0.6 (0.3–0.8)	0.8 (0.3–1.0)	0.2

^aThis cut point was chosen based on criteria derived by Thwaites et al. (31).

^bBA, Black African; M, mixed race; E, European; I, Indian.

^cP, positive; N, negative.

^dIQR, interquartile range.