Patient selection: child with acute bacterial meningitis in Guatemala
Outcome: death or major morbidity (hydrocephaly, convulsions, stroke/infarct/thrombosis, cranial nerve paralysis)
Predictors of a poor outcome:
(1) seizures (odds ratio 101.5)
(2) CSF glucose < 20 mg/dL (odds ratio 5.3)
(3) symptom duration > 3 days (odds ratio 3.7)
(4) coma (odds ratio 6.3)
(6) Herson-Todd score > 5 (odds ratio 10.3, range from 0 to 12)
In addition, the children were not vaccinated. Childhood vaccinations are associated with reduced risk to bacterial meningitis in children.
