Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of the four different groups in this study
| Variable | Healthy individuals (n = 147) | Treated healthy individuals (n = 27) | Treated LNB patientsb (n = 36) | Active LNB patientsb (n = 27) | p-value overall | p-value two-groupd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex; no. of males (%) | 57 (38.8) | 12 (44.4) | 19 (52.8) | 14 (51.9) | 0.339 | NA |
| Age (at inclusion); median, years (IQR) | 40.9 (27.0–51.8) | 53.1 (38.3–57.6) | 59.1 (49.4–66.2) | 57.8 (47.8–72.8) | <0.001 | ≤0.001e |
| Tick bite (%) | 86 (58.5) | 25 (92.6) | 27 (75.0) | 9 (56.3)c | 0.003 | ≤0.008f |
| EM (%) | 4 (2.7) | 22 (81.5) | 9 (25.0) | 4 (25.0)c | <0.001 | ≤0.004g |
| Time of inclusion after AB treatment finished; median, years (IQR) | NA | 5.0 (2.0–7.0)a | 6.1 (3.5–8.4) | NA | NA | 0.071 |
| Pleocytosis (before AB treatment started); median (IQR) | NA | NA | 52.0 (21.0–113.5) | 112.0 (33.0–214.0) | NA | 0.050 |
| Definite LNB; n (%) | NA | NA | 30 (83.3) | 22 (81.5) | NA | 0.553 |
| Possible LNB based on clinical symptoms and: | NA | NA | ||||
| Pleocytosis; n (%) | 1 (2.8) | 4 (14.8) | ||||
| Intrathecal antibody production; n (%) | 5 (13.9) | 1 (3.7) | ||||
| Recovery statush | ||||||
| Good recovery; n (%) | 27 (81.8) | |||||
| Treatment failure; n (%) | 6 (18.2) | |||||
LNB: Lyme neuroborreliosis; EM: erythema migrans; IQR: interquartile range; AB: antibiotic; NA: not applicable
aOne treated healthy individual who did not know when antibiotic treatment took place was excluded
bEight active Lyme neuroborreliosis patients were also included as treated Lyme neuroborreliosis patients
cEleven active Lyme neuroborreliosis patients did not fill out the Lyme-specific questionnaire and were, thus, excluded from the calculations
dFor all two-group comparisons with a significant difference, the Bonferroni correction was applied (p: 0.050/6 = 0.008)
eSignificant difference in age at inclusion for healthy individuals compared to the remaining three groups
fSignificant difference in percentage of tick bites for treated healthy individuals compared to healthy individuals and active Lyme neuroborreliosis patients
gSignificant difference in percentage of erythema migrans for healthy individuals compared to the remaining three groups and for treated healthy individuals compared to treated and active Lyme neuroborreliosis patients
hThe clinical outcome could not be established for three treated Lyme neuroborreliosis patients