The cerebrospinal fluid changes and clinical characteristics of aseptic meningitis in Kawasaki disease

Abstract Background: Aseptic meningitis is not a common feature in Kawasaki disease (KD). However, it could cause difficulty in making correct and in-time diagnosis Methods: We retrospectively investigated patients of KD and bacterial meningitis (BM). Totally 38 KD patients and 126 BM patients were brought into this study. Clinical symptoms, signs and laboratory examinations were compared between the two groups, which included: duration of fever before lumbar puncture, conjunctiva injection, oral cavity change, rash, cervical lymphadenopathy and extremities change, vomiting, front fontanel bulging, neck stiffness, leukocytes, hemoglobin, platelets, C-reactive protein, cerebrospinal fluid examinations, liver function and urinalysis. Results: In clinical signs, vomit and neck stiffness were more prevalent in BM. KD patients showed higher blood leukocyte (p<0.001) and C-reactive protein (p<0.001) in the early febrile stage. Glucose in cerebrospinal fluid of BM patients was significantly lower than KD patients (p=0.003). In ROC curve, the optimal cutoff value of CSF glucose was 2.945mmol/L with the sensitivity of 84.2% and specificity of 71.4%. Pyuria was more prevalent in KD patients (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in front fontanel bulging, hemoglobin, platelet, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, albumin, cerebrospinal fluid leukocytes, cerebrospinal fluid protein and cerebrospinal fluid lactate dehydrogenase. Conclusions ： Full investigation of clinical manifestation and laboratory tests is necessary to distinguish KD with aseptic meningitis and BM. In CSF study, glucose level is more efficient than other items to distinguish these two diseases. Decreased CSF glucose is possibly an indicator of BM rather than KD.