Chronic alcohol abuse affects the clinical course and outcome of community-acquired bacterial meningitis.

ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to determine the effect of chronic alcohol abuse on the course and outcome of bacterial meningitis (BM). We analyzed records of patients with BM who were hospitalized between January 2010 and December 2017 in the largest neuroinfection center in Poland. Out of 340 analyzed patients, 45 (13.2%) were alcoholics. Compared with non-alcoholics, alcoholics were more likely to present with seizures (p < 0.001), scored higher on the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) (p = 0.002) and lower on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) (p < 0.001), and had worse outcome as measured by the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) (p < 0.001). Furthermore, alcoholics were less likely to complain of headache (p < 0.001) and nausea/vomiting (p = 0.005) and had lower concentration of glucose in cer

SUBMITTER: Paciorek M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6800865 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature