title: Sensitivity of the bacterial meningitis score in 889 children with bacterial meningitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To validate sensitivity of the bacterial meningitis score (BMS) in a large population of children with bacterial meningitis (BM).
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary analysis of prospective data for children presenting with BM to a hospital emergency department between January 2001 and February 2005. The BMS was applied to all children with acute BM using the same inclusion criteria proposed by the authors of the rule. The sensitivity of the rule was calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 900 children aged 29 days to 18 years with acute BM who met all inclusion criteria, 889 had enough data for assigning the BMS. Use of the BMS correctly identified 884 children with BM, for 99.6% sensitivity (95% confidence interval: 98.9% to 99.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sensitivity of the BMS to detect disease was very high, but a few cases of BM were missed. Further refinements of the BMS may be warranted to lower the false-negative rate.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital, AP-HP and Paris Descartes University, Paris, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dubos
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De la Rocque
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bingen
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aujard
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bréart
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gendrel
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chalumeau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality*; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic
chemical_list: D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins