A scoring system to effectively evaluate central nervous system tuberculosis in patients with military tuberculosis

PLoS One. 2017 May 22;12(5):e0176651. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176651. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

There is currently no convenient way to effectively evaluate whether a miliary tuberculosis patient is complicated with central nervous system (CNS) tuberculosis. We aimed to find such a way by analyzing the clinical data of these patients. Fifty patients with confirmed miliary tuberculosis and 31 patients with confirmed miliary tuberculosis complicated with CNS tuberculosis from 2010 to 2014 were selected. Their general conditions, clinical features and laboratory tests were analyzed. Factors that were significantly different between them were chosen to performed multivariate and univariate logistic regression analyses, and factors with significant P values were used to establish a scoring system. Eight factors, i.e., age, cough, nausea, headache, hemoglobin (HGB), serum albumin (ALB), C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), were significantly different (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that ALB was the independent risk predictor (HR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.09-1.52, P < 0.01), whereas the others were non-independent predictors except age (P < 0.05). The scoring system was based on a summation of the scores of the assigned values of the seven predictors and had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.86 to confirm CNS tuberculosis, with a sensitivity of 81.5% and a specificity of 81.4% at a score of 0.75 and with a specificity of 95.3% at a score of 2.75. In contrast, a score below -0.75 excluded CNS tuberculosis, with a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 62.7%. The scoring system should be useful to evaluate whether a miliary tuberculosis patient is complicated with CNS tuberculosis and could help doctors avoid excessive investigation.

Publication types

  • Observational Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Area Under Curve
  • Blood Sedimentation
  • Child
  • Early Diagnosis
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Serum Albumin / metabolism*
  • Tuberculosis, Central Nervous System / diagnosis*
  • Tuberculosis, Central Nervous System / metabolism
  • Tuberculosis, Miliary / complications*
  • Tuberculosis, Miliary / metabolism*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Serum Albumin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Science and Technology Major Project of China (No. 2015ZX09J15105-004). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.