The Optimal Management of Acute Febrile Encephalopathy in the Aged Patient: A Systematic Review
Table 2
Studies in the literature performed to address the meningeal signs in adults (only studies included that at least make an estimation of the numbers of older people).
Meningeal signs: 6/6 (100%) of bacterial meningitis versus 32/54 (59%) of elderly patients with fever and confusion who had infection outside the CNS
Neck stiffness: elderly patients who underwent LP: 31/87 (35%) of whom only 3/87 (3.4%) had meningitis 33.9% of patients less than 35 years and 29.8% of patients between 35 and 65 years had neck stiffness, of whom 23.2% and 11.5% had meningitis
No comparison was made between elderly and younger patients in regard to the frequency of meningeal signs LP: lumbar puncture; LR: likelihood ratio.