Clinical characteristics of 81 cases with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome complicated with cryptococcal meningitis

Objective To investigate the clinical features and prognosis factors of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients complicated with cryptococcal meningitis (CM). Methods Retrospective analyses were performed on clinical features, laboratory data, treatment status and related prognosis factors in 81 AIDS patients with CM admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases, Beijing You′an Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2010 to December 2017. The t test, rank sum test and χ2 test were employed to analyze the data. Results Of the 81 AIDS patients with CM, 71 cases were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by sexual transmission (87.7%). The most common clinical symptoms were fever in 60 (74.1%), headache in 72 (88.9%), and nausea and vomiting in 56 (69.1%). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination results show that 60 cases (74.1%) had elevated opening pressure, the white blood cell count was 17.0 (6.0, 44.5)×106/L, monocyte count was 9.0 (3.0, 29.5)×106/L, the level of chloride was (117.26±5.61) mmol/L, of glucose was 2.89 (2.05, 3.41) mmol/L, of protein was 0.32 (0.21, 0.65) g/L, ink staining positive rate was 84.0% (68/81), fungal culture positive rate was 59.3% (48/81). The positive rate of serum cryptococcal antigen was 96.3% (78/81), and CSF cryptococcal antigen positive rate was 93.8% (76/81). The clinical efficacies were not significant different among different treatment regimens (χ2=1.479, P=0.533). After treatment, 60 patients survived and 21 died, with an overall mortality rate of 25.9%. Univariate analysis showed that consciousness disorder and CSF opening pressure were significantly higher in the death group than those in the survival group (χ2=22.365, t=0.317, respectively, both P<0.05), while serum albumin (Alb) and CD4+ T lymphocyte counts were significantly lower in the death group than those in the survival group (t=7.975, Z=-3.073, respectively, both P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that consciousness disorder and Alb were independent factors influencing the clinical outcome of AIDS patients with CM. Consciousness disorder was related with poor outcome (odd ratio (OR)=26.704, P=0.011, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.115-337.247), and higher Alb was related with good outcome (OR=0.671, P=0.005, 95%CI 0.507-0.888). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of serum Alb for predicting poor outcomes of AIDS patients with CM was 0.932 (95% CI 0.859-0.998, P<0.01). By using 31.7 g/L as cut-off value, the sensitivity was 95% and the specificity was 81% for predicting poor outcome. Conclusions AIDS complicated with CM has a high mortality rate, and its clinical features are lack of specificity. Consciousness disorder and Alb are independent prognosis factors. Key words: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; Cryptococcus neoformans; Meningitis, cryptococcal; Clinical characteristics