Table 3.
The demographic and clinical characteristics of aseptic meningitis patients with positive and negative viral multiplex PCR data.
| Variable |
Positive N (%) (N = 97) |
Negative N (%) (N = 143) |
p |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. of patients | 97 (40.4%) |
143 (59.6%) |
|
| Gender | |||
| Male | 52 (53.6%) | 79 (55.2%) | 0.8 |
| Female | 45 (46.4%) | 64 (44.8%) | |
| Age groups | |||
| 0–4 years | 64 (66%) | 101 (70.6%) | 0.18 |
| 5–17 years | 18 (18.6%) | 15 (10.5%) | |
| 18–34 years | 6 (6.2%) | 15 (10.5%) | |
| 35–64 years | 5 (5.2%) | 10 (7%) | |
| ≥65 years | 4 (4.1%) | 2 (1.4%) | |
| Symptoms | |||
| Fever | 70 (72.2%) | 73 (51%) | <0.0001 |
| Headache | 25 (25.8%) | 27 (18.9%) | 0.2 |
| Vomiting | 20 (20.6%) | 31 (21.7%) | 0.87 |
| Photophobia | 10 (10.3%) | 10 (7%) | 0.47 |
| Hypoactivity | 13 (13.4%) | 17 (11.9%) | 0.84 |
| Decreased oral intake | 10 (10.3%) | 17 (11.9%) | 0.83 |
| Seizure | 8 (8.2%) | 10 (7%) | 0.8 |
| Altered mental status | 6 (6.2%) | 0 | |
| Signs | |||
| Neck pain/stiffness | 5 (5.2%) | 16 (11.2%) | 0.16 |
| Kernig's sign | 2 (2.1%) | 5 (3.5%) | 0.7 |
| Brudzinski's sign | 2 (2.1%) | 5 (3.5%) | 0.7 |
| Temperature (°C) (mean ± SD) | 37.8 ± 0.8 | 37.4 ± 0.9 | <0.0001 |
| Median length of stay (IQR) | 2 (2–4) | 6 (2–17) | <0.0001 |
| Sepsis | 3 (3.1%) | 9 (6.3%) | 0.37 |
| Intensive care unit (ICU) admissions | 14 (14.4%) | 40 (28%) | 0.01 |
| Death | 3 (3.1%) | 0 | |
| CSF characteristics | |||
| Median WBC (cells/mm3) (IQR) | 15 (1–84.5) | 13 (8–44) | <0.0001 |
| Median protein (g/L) (IQR) | 0.5 (0.32–0.81) | 0.82 (0.47–1.4) | 0.7 |
| Median glucose (mmol/L) (IQR) | 3 (2.7–3.4) | 3.1 (2.7–3.8) | 0.02 |
The bold values showed statistical significance (A p < 0.05 was considered significant).
P-value indicates statistical significance as obtained from chi-square for categorical variables and independent-samples t-test for continuous variables.