| Literature DB >> 19765315 |
Michael Katwere1, Andrew Kambugu, Theresa Piloya, Matthew Wong, Brett Hendel-Paterson, Merle A Sande, Allan Ronald, Elly Katabira, Edward M Were, Joris Menten, Robert Colebunders.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: We set out to define the relative prevalence and common presentations of the various aetiologies of headache within an ambulant HIV-seropositive adult population in Kampala, Uganda.Entities:
Year: 2009 PMID: 19765315 PMCID: PMC2753625 DOI: 10.1186/1758-2652-12-21
Source DB: PubMed Journal: J Int AIDS Soc ISSN: 1758-2652 Impact factor: 5.396
Diagnostic criteria utilised in the study
| Presence of Cryptococcus in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by India ink examination, CSF fungal culture, or positive serum cryptococcal antigen (CRAG) test. | |
| Headache accompanied by a focal neurological deficit, with clinical improvement on empiric cotrimoxazole therapy within 14 days of initiation. A positive CT of the brain revealing characteristic ring-enhancing lesions was not required. | |
| Clinical symptoms and signs (rhinorrhoea, nasal stuffiness, headache worse when bending over, frontal or maxillary sinus pain, and tenderness on percussion), with or without air fluid levels on skull film, and response to antibiotic treatment. | |
| Mycobacterium tuberculosis demonstrated in CSF by Ziehl-Neelsen staining and/or mycobacterial culture (Loewenstein-Jensen culture medium); or mycobacterium tuberculosis not demonstrated in the CSF, but: (A) CSF findings compatible with CSF protein >60 g/dL, and >200 cells/mm3 with lymphocytic predominance; (B) evidence of extra central nervous system tuberculosis; (C) exclusion of other aetiologies of meningitis; and (D) positive response to anti-tuberculous therapy | |
| On the basis of mild-moderate CSF pleocytosis (<100 leukocytes/ml) and moderately elevated protein in CSF (40-150 g/dL) with negative CSF fungal/bacterial cultures, negative Ziehl-Neelsen and gram stains of CSF, negative serum CRAG and exclusion of tuberculosis at other sites. |
Patients' characteristics at study enrolment
| Patient characteristics | n (%) |
|---|---|
| Total N | 180 |
| Sex† | |
| Men: n (%) | 51 (28) |
| Women: n (%) | 128 (72) |
| Age: median (IQR) | 35 (30-41) |
| Location† | |
| Frontal: n (%) | 68 (39) |
| Temporal: n (%) | 27 (15) |
| Occipital: n (%) | 9 (5) |
| Vertex: n (%) | 2 (1) |
| Generalized: n (%) | 69 (39) |
| Headache score†: median (IQR) | 8 (6-10) |
| Headache duration (days)†: median (IQR) | 10 (5-21) |
| WHO stage†: | |
| I or II: n (%) | 38 (21) |
| III: n (%) | 73 (41) |
| IV: n (%) | 66 (37) |
| Patient on ART: n (%) | 53 (29) |
| Karnofsky performance score†: median (IQR) | 70 (60-80) |
| CD4 count†: median (IQR) | 108 (20-239) |
| Workup classification†: | |
| Focal/febrile | 3 (2) |
| Non-focal/febrile | 19 (11) |
| Focal/afebrile | 11 (6) |
| Non-focal/afebrile | 144 (81) |
† Number of patients with data missing: gender (1), location (5), headache score (6), headache duration (1), WHO stage (3), Karnofsky performance score (4), CD4 (10), workup classification (3).
Number and percentage of patients by headache aetiology
| Diagnosis | N | Percentage (95% confidence interval) |
|---|---|---|
| Cryptococcal meningitis | 50 | 28 (22-35) |
| Bacterial sinusitis | 56 | 31 (24-38) |
| Cerebral toxoplasmosis | 7 | 4 (2-8) |
| Tuberculous (TB) meningitis | 7 | 4 (2-8) |
| Other: | 32 | 18 (13-24) |
| 6 | 3 (2-7) | |
| 5 | 3 (1--6) | |
| 3 | 2 (1-5) | |
| 2 | 1 (0-4) | |
| 2 | 1 (0-4) | |
| 2 | 1 (0-4) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| 1 | 1 (0-3) | |
| Unknown | 28 | 16 (11-22) |
Clinical features associated with the main diagnoses (number of patients by characteristic and main diagnosis)
| CM | Sinusitis | Toxoplasmosis | TBM | Other | Unknown | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 12 | |
| 29 | 52 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 16 | |
| p-value | 0.040 | < 0.001 | 0.103 | 0.408 | 0.829 | 0.073 |
| 13 | 34 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 9 | |
| 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 | |
| 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 27 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 10 | |
| p-value | 0.008 | < 0.001 | 0.461 | 0.392 | 0.077 | 0.400 |
| 25 | 32 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 13 | |
| 12 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 7 | |
| 12 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |
| p-value | 1.000 | 0.163 | 0.888 | 0.888 | 0.006 | 0.712 |
| 3 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 | |
| 16 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 12 | |
| 30 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | |
| p-value | < 0.001 | 0.041 | 0.129 | 0.480 | 0.240 | 0.133 |
| 31 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 8 | |
| 15 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | |
| 1 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 13 | |
| p-value | < 0.001 | 0.001 | 0.451 | 0.801 | 0.376 | 0.115 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| 39 | 50 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 26 | |
| p-value | 1.000 | 0.048 | < 0.001 | 0.550 | 0.040 | 0.182 |
| 2 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 10 | |
| 47 | 42 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 18 | |
| p-value | < 0.001 | 0.842 | 0.162 | 1.000 | 0.232 | 0.046 |
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| p-value | < 0.001 | 0.010 | 1.000 | 0.084 | 0.468 | 0.222 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| p-value | 0.015 | 0.059 | 1.000 | 0.311 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| p-value | 0.005 | 0.175 | 1.000 | 0.277 | 0.210 | 1.000 |
| 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 46 | 49 | 6 | 7 | 30 | 26 | |
| p-value | 1.000 | 0.288 | 0.344 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 0.362 |
| 11 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | |
| 38 | 39 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 20 | |
| p-value | 0.846 | 0.345 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 0.501 | 0.631 |
See note for Table 2 for numbers of patients with missing data.
P-values from Fisher's Exact test comparing those with and without the diagnosis by possible predictor.
CM: Cryptococcal meningitis; TBM: Tuberculous meningitis.
Features associated with any serious conditions (cryptococcal meningitis, cerebral toxoplasmosis or tuberculous meningitis)
| Cryptococcal meningitis | Serious condition | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odds ratio | p-value | Odds ratio | p-value | |
| Sex (male) | 3.4 (1.4, 9.0) | 0.011 | 4.0 (1.6, 10.3) | 0.003 |
| CD4 | ||||
| <50 | 47.3 (8.6, 901) | < 0.001 | 9.4 (2.6, 46.4) | 0.002 |
| 50-199 | 23.5 (4.1, 454) | 0.004 | 7.5 (2.0, 37.4) | 0.006 |
| ≥200 | 1 (Ref.) | 1 (Ref.) | ||
| Change in position worsens headache | 21.4 (3.9, 407) | 0.005 | 6.3 (1.9, 26.0) | 0.005 |
| Neck stiffness | 9.2 (1.8, 82.8) | 0.019 | 32.2 (4.2, 719) | 0.004 |
| WHO stage | ||||
| I & II | 1 (Ref.) | |||
| III | ? | ? | 4.2 (1.0, 24.4) | 0.066 |
| IV | ? | ? | 6.5 (1.6, 37.6) | 0.016 |
Note: Odds ratios, confidence intervals (95% CI) and p-values calculated from multivariate logistic regression model. All variables included in the final multivariate model are shown. Variables considered in the step-wise procedure were: gender, headache location (Cryptococcal meningitis only), WHO stage, CD4 cell count, change in head position worsens headache, neck stiffness, Kernig's sign and papilloedema.