• Huixian Li, Rui Xiao, Ruheena Javed, Kuanrong Li, Weitao Ye, Wei Zhou, and Huiying Liang.
• Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
• J Res Med Sci. 2020 Jan 1; 25: 77.

BackgroundWhether early lumbar puncture (LP) and blood indicators are suitable as diagnostic criteria and helpful to treatment strategies for newborns remains to be solved. The study was to evaluate the value of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at the first LP and blood indicators at the similar time in the early diagnosis and the drug therapy of neonatal bacterial meningitis.Materials And MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study of 997 infants with suspected bacterial meningitis between June 2012 and June 2018. CSF and blood parameters were evaluated by three stepwise logistic models to assess their ability: to distinguish bacterial meningitis from nonbacterial meningitis, to distinguish positive CSF culture from negative, and to distinguish Gram-positive bacteria from negative.ResultsOf the 997 neonates, 236 (23.67%) were later diagnosed as bacterial meningitis. Of the neonates with meningitis, 54 (22.88%) had positive CSF culture results. And of neonates with positive CSF culture, 27 (50%) had Gram-positive results. One or more CSF indicators were added to the three models. Only blood hypersensitive C-reactive protein and blood lactate dehydrogenase were added to the first model, while no blood parameters was added to the other two models. The areas under the effect-time curves of the three models were 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.89-0.92, P < 0.001), 0.69 (95% CI: 0.63-0.75, P < 0.001), and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.74-0.94, P < 0.001), respectively.ConclusionLP was irreplaceable predictor of bacterial meningitis, and comprehensive analysis of CSF indicators can predict the offending organism, which enables refinement of therapy.Copyright: © 2020 Journal of Research in Medical Sciences.

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