ArticleEpidemiology and infection2024
The challenge of etiologic diagnosis of subacute and chronic meningitis: an analysis of 183 patients.
Article in Epidemiology and infection, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Chronic meningitis: diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.Current opinion in infectious diseases · 2025Review
- Mortality predictors and diagnostic challenges in adult tuberculous meningitis: a retrospective cohort of 100 patients.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
- Neurobrucellosis: a retrospective cohort of 106 patients.Tropical medicine and health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Subacute and chronic meningitis (SCM) presents significant diagnostic challenges, with numerous infectious and non-infectious inflammatory causes. This study examined patients aged 16 and older with SCM admitted to referral centers for neuroinfections and neuroinflammations in Mashhad, Iran, between March 2015 and October 2022. Among 183 episodes, tuberculous meningitis was the most common infectious cause (46.5%), followed by Brucella meningitis (24.6%). The cause of SCM was definitively proven in 40.4%, presumptive in 35.0%, and unknown in 24.6% of cases. In-hospital mortality was 14.4%, and 30.5% of survivors experienced unfavorable outcomes (Glasgow Outcome Scale 2-4). Patients with unknown causes had a significantly higher risk of death compared to those with presumptive or proven diagnoses (risk ratio 4.18). This study emphasizes the diagnostic difficulties of SCM, with one-quarter of cases remaining undiagnosed and over one-third having only a presumptive diagnosis. Improving diagnostic methods could potentially enhance prognosis and reduce mortality.
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