Table 2.
General features and clinical presentation at admission
| All patients | Nos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | ||
| Age at admission (years and months) | 4y 3 m (3:2–5:5) | [101] |
| Girls (%) | 47 (37–56) | [101] |
| Boys (%) | 54 (44–63) | [101] |
| Known predisposing conditions (%) | 29 (20–38) | [101] |
| Symptoms and clinical findings | ||
| Seizures (%) | 11 (6–18) | [101] |
| Neck stiffness (%) | 51 (41–60) | [101] |
| Altered mental status (%) | 65 (56–74) | [101] |
| Septic appearance (%)a | 70 (60–78) | [99] |
| Laboratory findings | ||
| C-reactive protein (mg/L) | 153 (127–179) | [93] |
| WBC in blood (109/L) | 14.9 (13.1–16.6) | [90] |
| Cerebrospinal fluid results | ||
| Protein (mg/L) | 2091 (1798–2384) | [66] |
| Lactate (mmol/L) | 20,8 (0.0–45.7) | [70] |
| Glucose (mmol/L) | 2,0 (1.5–2.5) | [65] |
| WBC (cells/µL) | 4044 (2657–5433) | [86] |
| Poly (cells/µL) | 3287 (2041–4532) | [85] |
| Mono (cells/µL) | 795 (439–1150) | [84] |
| Causative pathogen (%) | ||
| H. influenzae | 41 (31–50) | [101] |
| S. pneumoniae | 32 (22–41) | [101] |
| N. meningitidis | 11 (5–17) | [101] |
| Another identified pathogenb | 8 (3–13) | [101] |
This table shows the general features and clinical presentation at admission for the patients included in our study. Occurrence presented as percentages and averages as means followed by 95% confidence interval presented inside parenthesis. The number of included patients for each analysis is stated in brackets
WBC white blood cells
aFulfilling at least two age-correlated systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria [31]
bThis group included four cases of group B streptococci and one case each of group A streptococci, salmonella, Echinacea coli, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae