Applicability and accuracy of Bacterial Meningitis Score in a resource-limited hospital setting in Thailand

Abstract

Several studies have determined that Bacterial Meningitis Score (BMS) has a high sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing bacterial meningitis from aseptic meningitis. Thus, the authors conducted a cross-sectional study in 252 children with clinical suspected meningitis in the Hatyai Hospital located in the Southern part of Thailand. In this study, BMS has 100% sensitivity (95%CI; 0.799–1) and 62.1% specificity (95%CI; 0.554–0.682). Positive predictive value (PPV) was 18.5% (95%CI; 0.119–0.273) and negative predictive value (NPV) was 100% (95%CI; 0.967–1). BMS is a useful screening tool for early diagnosis of bacterial meningitis before cerebrospinal fluid culture result is known, especially when latex agglutination is not available. BMS is not recommended as a diagnostic confirmation tool because of its low specificity.