Table 2.
Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of patients with tick-borne encephalitis on admission according to absence or presence of proven or possible borrelial co-infection.
| Characteristic | TBE n = 382 |
TBE-LB n = 62 |
TBE-Bb n = 240 |
p Value a |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 49 (35–61) | 53 (43–68) | 59 (46–69) | <0.001 |
| Male sex | 208 (54.5) | 39 (62.9) | 148 (61.7) | 0.143 |
| Charlson comorbidity index | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 2 (0–3) | <0.001 |
| Vaccinated against TBE | 14 (3.7) | 2 (3.2) | 12 (5.0) | 0.670 |
| Clinical presentation | 0.615 | |||
| Meningitis | 91 (23.8) | 16 (25.8) | 50 (20.8) | |
| Meningoencephalitis | 259 (67.8) | 38 (61.3) | 169 (70.4) | |
| Meningoencephalomyelitis | 32 (8.4) | 8 (12.9) | 21 (8.8) | |
| Severity of acute illness | 0.649 | |||
| Mild | 99 (25.9) | 16 (25.8) | 54 (22.5) | |
| Moderate | 232 (60.7) | 38 (61.3) | 145 (60.4) | |
| Severe | 51 (13.4) | 8 (12.9) | 41 (17.1) | |
| Severity score of acute illness | 12 (8–17) | 12 (6.8–17.8) | 12.5 (9–19) | 0.324 |
| CSF leukocyte count (× 106/L) | 104 (54.8–192) | 101 (65.3–154) | 68.5 (35–134.3) | <0.001 |
Data are median (interquartile range) or number (%) of patients. Abbreviations: TBE, tick-borne encephalitis without borrelial co-infection; TBE-LB, TBE with proven borrelial co-infection; TBE-Bb, TBE with possible borrelial co-infection; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid. a Overall p value for comparisons between groups was estimated using Kruskal–Wallis test or Chi-squared test with continuity correction as appropriate: p < 0.05 was considered significant.