Table 2.

Laboratory Results and Follow-up of Adults with Community-Acquired Meningitis According to Gender (N=619).

Clinical Feature	Male, n=292	Female, n=327	P-value
Blood and CSF analysis
Serum leukocyte count, cells/uL, median (range)	8,400 (900 – 34,800)	8,900 (1,400 – 43,500)	0.813
CSF leukocyte count, cells/uL, median (range)	104 (6 – 53,600)	200 (40 – 40,064)	0.947
CSF protein, mg/dL, median (range)	82 (18 – 659)	82 (22 – 706)	0.579
CSF glucose, mg/dL, median (range)	57 (1 – 421)	55 (1 – 366)	0.222
Serum leukocyte ≥ 12,000 cells/uL, n (%)	72 (24.7)	80 (24.5)	0.956
CSF protein ≥ 100 mg/dL, n (%)	116 (39.7)	121 (37.0)	0.487
CSF glucose <45 mg/dL, n (%)	53 (18.2)	63 (19.3)	0.723
Microbiology analysis, n/N (%)
Positive Gram stain	30/291 (10.3)	12/327 (3.7)	0.003
Positive blood culture	186/292 (63.7)	214/327 (65.4)	0.563
Positive polymerase chain reaction testa	34/292 (22.8)	39/327(27.1)	0.399
Positive CSF culture
Bacterial	20/280 (7.1)	14/325 (4.3)	0.131
Viral	0/69 (0.0)	2/60 (3.3)	0.126
C. neoformansb	33/122 (27.0)	8/92 (8.7)	<0.001
Management decision, n/N (%)
Admitted to hospital	284/292 (97.3)	317/327 (96.9)	0.814
Empirical antibiotic therapy	212/288 (73.6)	240/323 (74.3)	0.846
Empirical viral therapy	75/291 (25.8)	82/325 (25.2)	0.877
Head computed tomography performed	268/292 (91.8)	285/327 (87.2)	0.063
Abnormalc	27/268 (10.1)	14/285 (4.9)	0.021
Brain magnetic resonance imaging performed	151/292 (51.7)	139/327 (42.5)	0.022
Abnormald	58/151 (38.4)	51/139 (36.7)	0.763
Adverse clinical outcome	29/292 (9.9)	41/327 (12.5)	0.307

^aIncludes HSV, VZV, and enterovirus.

^bPositive fungal culture or cryptococcal antigen.

^cFocal or nonfocal intracranial abnormalities.

^dMass lesions, strokes, hypoattenuations, meningeal enhancement, bleeds, white matter abnormalities.

^eGlasgow Outcome Scale score of <4.