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. 2018 Jan 17;15:20. doi: 10.1186/s12974-017-1041-0

Table 1.

Demographic and clinical laboratory characteristics

Control
(n = 15)
Bell’s
(n = 11)
Ent. men
(n = 10)
Z. segmental
(n = 14)
Z. facial
(n = 16)a
Z. men_enc
(n = 15)b
P valuec
(all patient groups)
P valuec
(VZV-positive subgroups only)
Demographic
 Sex [%]
  Female 47 55 40 57 56 40 0.89d 0.57d
  Male 53 45 60 43 44 60
 Age [years]
  Median (range) 64 (36–91) 45 (22–83) 32.5 (22–76) 60 (49–79) 64.5 (20–89) 55 (13–80) 0.036 0.634
  Mean (SD) 64 (17) 46 (20) 41 (19) 61 (10) 59 (22) 53 (21)
Blood parameter
 Leukocyte count [1000/μL]
  Median (range) 6.7 (1.0–11.5) 8.3 (4.6–11.9) 7.3 (4.0–14.0) 5.9 (2.4–9.0) 6.7 (4.1–13.2) 6.9 (3.8–13.6) 0.60 0.51
  Mean (SD) 6.8 (2.6) 8.2 (2.3) 7.5 (3.0) 6.1 (2.1) 7.2 (2.3) 7.8 (3.3)
 C-reactive protein [mg/L]
  Median (range) 2.5 (1–29) 3 (1–31) 4 (1–39) 2 (1–15) 2.5 (1–18) 2 (1–128) 0.78 0.88
  Mean (SD) 5.9 (9.2) 6.3 (9.6) 9.3 (12.3) 4.5 (4.4) 4.4 (5.0) 13.6 (32.3)
CSF parameter
 Leukocyte count [1/μL]
  Median (range) 1 (0–11) 2 (0–5) 9 (1–619) 2 (0–18) 17 (1–800) 38 (2–1536) 4.0E−06 7.0E−04
  Mean (SD) 1.9 (2.8) 2.1 (1.5) 129 (235) 3.3 (4.5) 156 (272) 200 (400)
 Protein concentration [mg/L]
  Median (range) 385 (255–656) 490.5 (309–829) 518 (240–976) 554.5 (273–880) 503 (270–1485) 649 (313–2048) 0.086 0.29
  Mean (SD) 435 (134) 497 (156) 569 (205) 533 (139) 641 (342) 823 (486)
 IgG index
  Median (range) 0.51 (0.47–0.60) 0.47 (0.41–0.59) 0.53 (0.47–0.63) 0.54 (0.43–0.77) 0.54 (0.43–0.86) 0.55 (0.50–1.16) 0.011 0.65
  Mean (SD) 0.53 (0.05) 0.48 (0.05) 0.54 (0.05) 0.56 (0.08) 0.57 (0.12) 0.63 (0.18)
 Lactate [mmol/L]
  Median (range) 1.64 (1.21–2.50) 1.57 (1.24–2.22) 1.88 (1.55–3.55) 1.78 (1.42–2.08) 1.87 (1.44–4.24) 2.73 (1.49–5.50) 8.5E−04 0.006
  Mean (SD) 1.70 (0.30) 1.65 (0.34) 2.09 (0.62) 1.76 (0.18) 2.07 (0.67) 2.81 (1.18)
 Blood-CSF-barrier disruption [%]e
  No disruption 60 55 20 54 50 21 f f
  Light 40 45 70 39 31 36
  Moderate 0 0 10 7.7 19 29
  Severe 0 0 0 0 0 14

Bell’s Bell’s palsy, Ent. men enteroviral meningitis, men_enc meningoencephalitis, Z. zoster

aThis group comprised ten patients treated with steroids (1 mg/kg body weight per day) after CSF was obtained

bThis group comprised five patients with meningitis, nine with encephalitis, and one with myelitis; these subgroups did not differ among each other in terms of the parameters in this table. Clinical complications included new cranial nerve paralysis and severe organic brain syndrome (n = 2 each). One patient received immunosuppressive medications at the time of lumbar puncture

cCalculated by Kruskal-Wallis test unless stated otherwise. Italic numbers: P ≤ 0.05, P values were not corrected for multiple-hypothesis testing

dCalculated by chi-square test

ePatient-adjusted Q-albumin reference value = 4 + (age/15). No disruption ≤ reference value, light ≤ 15, moderate ≤ 25, severe > 25

fDifference was significant only for Z. men_enc vs. control (P = 0.028, Fisher’s exact test)