Skip to main content

Table 1 Patient characteristics and clinical presentation

From: High neopterin and IP-10 levels in cerebrospinal fluid are associated with neurotoxic tryptophan metabolites in acute central nervous system infections

Parameter

Encephalitis (n = 10)

ASM (n = 25)

ABM (n = 6)

Controls (n = 42)

p valuea

Gender, males (%)

4 (40)

10 (40)

4 (67)

13 (31)

0.385

Age, years

43.5 (30, 72)

35 (28, 48)

52 (41, 68)

31 (22, 41)

0.054

Hospital stay, days

19 (11, 42)b

3 (1.5, 5.5)c

19 (14, 33)b, d

2.0 (1.0, 4.0)

< 0.001

Comorbidity (%)

Immunodeficiencye

2 (30)b

1 (4)c

1 (17)b

–

0.029

Psychiatric disorder

2 (20)b

2 (8)

–

–

0.046

Etiology known (%)f

4/10 (40)

16/25 (64)

6/6 (100)

–

< 0.001

Headache (%)

7/10 (70)b

24/25 (96)c

3/4 (75)

39/41 (95)

0.037

Neck stiffness (%)g

2/10 (20)

12/25 (48)

3/5 (60)

12/42 (29)

0.175

Objective fever (%)h

7/10 (70)

17/25 (68)

5/6 (83)

20/42 (48)

0.168

Focal neurology (%)

5/9 (56)b

2/19 (10)c

1/6 (17)

1/24 (4)

0.003

GCS ≤ 14 (%)

10/10 (100)b

2/25 (8)c

5/6 (83)b,d

6/42 (14)

< 0.001

CSF WBC (× 106/L)

25 (9.5, 92)b

179 (26, 271)b, c

212 (91, 1434)b, c

1.0 (1.0, 2.0)

< 0.001

CSF protein (g/L)

0.57 (0.4, 0.9)b

0.59 (0.4, 0.8)b

2.2 (0.8, 5.9)b, c, d

0.26 (0.2, 0.3)

< 0.001

CSF glucose (mmol/L)

3.6 (3.3, 4.4)

3.5 (3.0, 3.7)

3.6 (0.4, 6.3)

3.5 (3.2, 3.7)

0.341

Glucose ratio

0.6 (0.5, 0.7)

0.6 (0.5, 0.6)b

0.4 (0.1, 0.6)b

0.6 (0.6, 0.7)

0.009

Albumin ratio

8.4 (6.5,14)b

9.4 (6.1, 13)b

79 (36, 137)b, c, d

4.0 (2.6, 5.0)

< 0.001

Blood WBC (× 109/L)

8.6 (7.4, 11)

8.2 (6.1, 11)

14 (8.5, 18)

10 (6.7, 12)

0.173

CRP, serum (mg/L)

6 (0.9, 86)

3.5 (1.3, 12)b

169 (96, 446)b, c, d

16 (2.1, 77)

0.001

  1. CSF WBC white blood cell count in CSF, glucose ratio CSF glucose/serum glucose, albumin ratio CSF albumin/serum albumin. Significant p-values are marked in bold. 
  2. Data shown are median (IQR) or numbers/n (%)
  3. ap values for one way analysis of variance (Kruskal-Wallis)
  4. bp < 0.05 for analysis with Mann-Whitney U test (MWU) in comparison with the control group
  5. cp < 0.05 for analysis with MWU in comparison with encephalitis
  6. dp < 0.05 for analysis with MWU in comparison with ASM
  7. eUnder treatment for or treated for cancer within the last year (including hematological malignancies), HIV infection or diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2), or using immunosuppressive or immune modulating drugs
  8. fCausing agents for encephalitis were 3 viral (adenovirus, HSV1, VZV) and 1 NMDAr encephalitis. ABM; Streptococcus pneumonia (n = 2), Staphylococcus aureus (n = 2), Neisseria meningitides (n = 1), and Haemophilus influenzae (n = 1). ASM; HSV2 (n = 6), enterovirus (n = 8), Toscana virus (n = 1), and 1 patient had intrathecal antibody production of IgG against Borrelia burgdorferi
  9. gNeck stiffness was assessed by a physician before LP
  10. hFever was defined as either ≥ 38 °C upon admission or within 24 h after admission, or measured to ≥ 38 °C by the patient prior to admission