Baseline demographics, timing of key investigations and clinical outcomes of 1471 adults presenting with suspected meningitis
| Total cohort N (%) | Bacterial meningitis N (%) | Viral meningitis N (%) | Other* N (%) | P value† | |
| N | 1471 (100) | 303 (21) | 615 (42) | 553 (38) | – |
| Median age (IQR) | 34 (26–49) | 54 (36–65) | 31 (25–37) | 34 (26–48) | <0.001 |
| Male | 625 (43) | 173 (57) | 214 (35) | 238 (43) | <0.001 |
| In patient mortality | 48 (3) | 38 (13) | 2 (0.3) | 8 (1.4) | <0.001 |
| Intensive care unit admission | 192 (13) | 157 (53) | 4 (0.7) | 31 (6) | <0.001 |
| Median admission GCS (IQR) | 15 (14–15) | 13 (9–15) | 15 (15–15) | 15 (15–15) | <0.001 |
| Median time (hours) from admission to first antibiotics (IQR) | 2.7 (0.9–8.3) | 1.5 (0.4–5.3) | 3.2 (1.3–8.3) | 3.3. (1–12.5) | <0.001 |
| Median time (hours) from admission to blood cultures (IQR) | 1 (0.3–4) | 0.7 (0.2–2.4) | 1 (0.3–3.7) | 1.4 (0.3–6.1) | 0.003 |
| CT of the head prior to LP | 1094 (94) | 207 (93) | 459 (94) | 428 (95) | 0.55 |
| Median time (hours) from admission to LP (IQR) | 16.4 (7.9–26.7) | 14.8 (7.7–29.8) | 14.3 (7.5–22.6) | 20 (8.8–35.8) | <0.001 |
| Adjunctive dexamethasone | 300 (21) | 150 (50) | 69 (11) | 81 (15) | <0.001 |
| Median CSF leucocyte count (IQR) | 140 (44–399) | 930 (235.5–3062.5) | 122 (48–276) | 85 (26.8–250.3) | <0.001 |
| Median CSF protein (IQR) | 0.68 (0.46–1.21) | 3.25 (1.4–5.8) | 0.63 (0.45–0.9) | 0.6 (0.4–1.0) | <0.001 |
| Median CSF glucose (IQR) | 3.2 (2.8–3.7) | 2.1 (0.95–3.45) | 3.2 (2.9–3.6) | 3.3 (3.0–3.8) | <0.001 |
*Other meningitis category included all patients without a confirmed bacterial or viral pathogen.
†For continuous variables, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare medians across groups, and for categorical variables χ2 tests were used.
CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; GCS, Glasgow Coma Score; LP, lumbar puncture.