TABLE 2.
Effect of patient age on the relationship between the presence of CSF pleocytosis and the detection of enterovirus RNA in CSF by RT-PCR
| Age (yrs) | Pleocytosis | No. (%) with the following RT-PCR resulta:
|
Total no. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | Negative | |||
| <2 | Present | 13 (28) | 11 (24) | 24 |
| Absent | 5 (11) | 17 (37) | 22 | |
| ≥2 | Present | 51 (41) | 17 (14) | 68 |
| Absent | 1 (2) | 54 (44) | 55 | |
a
Based on 169 patients whose CSF was tested by culture and RT-PCR and whose ages and CSF cell count results were available. The data are based on an absorbance cutoff (optical density) of 0.05. For patients below the age of 2 years, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 72, 61, 54, and 77%, respectively. For patients 2 years old and older, the corresponding parameters were 98, 76, 75, and 98%, respectively.