• Hina Nasir, Muhammad Faheem Afzal, Muhammad Haroon Hamid, and Akmal Laeeq.
• Dr. Hina Nasir, MBBS. Department of Pediatrics, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan.
• Pak J Med Sci. 2020 Nov 1; 36 (7): 1558-1561.

ObjectiveTo determine the diagnostic accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid lactate level in confirmed cases of acute bacterial meningitis in children.MethodsThis cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Paediatrics, King Edward Medical University/ Mayo Hospital, Lahore from January to December 2018. A total of 250 children, between two months - 12 years of age, of both the genders, with suspected acute bacterial meningitis were included by non-probability consecutive sampling. Each child was subjected to lumbar puncture for biochemistry, cytology, culture, and lactate level. CSF lactate level of 1.1-2.4 mmol/L was taken as normal, and >2.4 mmol/L was taken as cut off for acute bacterial meningitis. All collected data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 22. A 2 x 2 table was made to calculate diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value for CSF Lactate.ResultsThe sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of CSF lactate taking CSF culture as gold standard was 100%, 60.61%, 17.27%, 100% and 63.6% respectively, with kappa of 0.19 and p value of 0.000.ConclusionAt a cut off value of 2.4 mmol/L, cerebrospinal fluid lactate level has a high diagnostic accuracy for acute bacterial meningitis.Copyright: © Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences.

4 keywords...

hide…