title: Diagnostic capability of CSF ferritin in children with meningitis.
abstract: The current study was performed to determine the normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) ferritin level according to age and cut-off value for early diagnosis of bacterial menignitis. The subjects (N = 203) consisted of children who received the CSF examination at Department of Pediatrics in Chonnam National University Hospital between May 1996 and July 2001. The subjects were classified into four groups; non-meningitis, viral meningitis, bacterial meningitis, and bacterial meningitis suspected group. CSF ferritin of the meningitis group was significantly higher than that of the non-meningitis or viral meningitis groups. CSF ferritin had positive correlation with white blood cell (WBC) count and protein in CSF but negative correlation with CSF glucose (P < 0.01). CSF ferritin decreased progressively up to 1 year but such a tendency was not evident in patients over 1 year in age in the non-meningitis group. For early diagnosis of bacterial meningitis, 15.6 ng/mL was considered as the appropriate cut-off value of CSF ferritin (a sensitivity of 96.2% and a specificity of 96.6%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju, South Korea.
authors.forename: Young Ok
authors.initials: YO
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ji Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Mee Hye
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Youm
authors.forename: Young
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jong Woo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008587:Meningitis, Viral / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins