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Table 4 Cause of death and GCS level on admission. Data was available for 82 of 84 patients. The no. of patients presenting with a GCS < 9 was significantly higher among patients dying from CNS complications than among patients dying from systemic complications (p = 0.011)

From: The cause of death in bacterial meningitis

 

GCS < 9

GCS 9–12

GCS 13–14

GCS 15

Data available for 82 of 84 patients

30 of 82 (37%)

29 of 82 (35%)

16 of 82 (20%)

7 of 82 (9%)

1. CNS complications

17 of 30 (57%)

9 of 29 (31%)

7 of 16 (44%)

2 of 7 (29%)

 Brain herniation

4

3

0

1

 Brain infarct

1

3

1

0

 Brain haemorrhage

1

0

0

0

 Intractable seizures

2

1

2

1

 Global brain injury /unresponsive

7

0

4

0

 CNS complications not further specified

2

2

0

0

2. Systemic complications

6 of 30 (20%)

15 of 29 (52%)

8 of 16 (50%)

4 of 7 (57%)

 Circulatory failure /septic shock

2

6

2

3

 Respiratory failure

0

5

2

0

 Other organ failure

0

1

2

0

 Systemic complications not futher specified

4

3

2

1

3. Combined CNS and systemic causes

2 of 30 (7%)

0 of 39 (0%)

1 of 16 (6%)

0 of 7 (0%)

4. Sudden unexpected death

3 of 30 (10%)

2 of 29 (7%)

0 of 16 (0%)

0 of 7 (0%)

5. Withdrawel of care

2 of 30 (7%)

1 of 29 (7%)

0 of 16 (0%)

1 of 7 (14%)

6. Unable to determine cause of death

0 of 30 (0%)

2 of 29 (7%)

0 of 16 (0%)

0 of 7 (0%)