Table 4.

Comparison of infants admitted from home and infants in hospital at the time of diagnosis

Variable	All cases	Home (n=66)	Inpatient (n=31)	p Value
Median age at disease (days)	14 (3–25)	17 (11–34)	1 (0–7)	0.0001
Early onset (<7 days)	30 (31%)	8 (12%)	22 (71%)	<0.0001
Male	52 (54%)	34 (52%)	18 (58%)	0.5
Prematurity	23 (24%)	8 (12%)	15 (48%)	<0.0001
Out-of-hours presentation	47 (48%)	30 (45%)	17 (55%)	0.4
Fever on presentation	48 (51%)	40 (61%)	8 (26%)	0.001
Seizure at presentation	33 (34%)	21 (32%)	12 (39%)	0.5
Received fluid bolus at presentation	53 (55%)	36 (55%)	17 (55%)	0.7
Antibiotics delay (hours)	2 (1.3–4)	2 (1–3.3)	2.6 (1.3–9.8)	0.09
LP done post first dose of antibiotics	57 (59%)	30 (45%)	27 (87%)	<0.0001
Antibiotics to LP time >24 hours	33 (59%)	14 (47%)	19 (70%)	0.07
Median time to LP and no bacteria in CSF (hours)	46 (24–92.5)	24 (15.2–52.8)	65 (44–100.8)	0.017
Median time to LP and bacteria in CSF (hours)	7.3 (1.5–2.4)	3 (1–24)	9.5 (2–24)	0.3
Empiric antibiotics not in conformity with national guidelines	52 (54%)	35 (53%)	17 (55%)	0.9
Discharge to first OPD review (months)	2.5 (2.0–3.5)	2.5 (2.0–4.0)	2.5 (2.0–2.5)	0.6
Discharge from follow-up age <12 months	13 (14%)	12/65 (18%)	1/31 (3%)	0.03
Discharge from follow-up age <24 months	31 (32%)	26/65 (40%)	5/31 (16%)	0.02
Hearing test performed in survivors*	74 (77%)	53/65 (82%)	21/31 (68%)	0.1
Neurological complications	40 (42%)	26/65 (40%)	14/31 (45%)	0.6
Discharge to audiology test (days)	25 (0–32)	24 (10–42)	26 (0–28)	0.2
Informed of meningitis support charities	13/97 (13%)	11/66 (17%)	2/31 (6%)	0.2

*There were 22 survivors without report of hearing test. 12 (13%) had no record of hearing test at review, 5 (5%) were transferred to another hospital where data were not available, and 4 (12%) had the review <1 month after discharge and 1 (1%) missed two appointments.

CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; LP, lumbar puncture; OPD, outpatient department.