PATIENT AND STRAIN CHARACTERISTICS IN RELATION TO THE OUTCOME OF MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE - A MULTIVARIATE-ANALYSIS

To investigate the joint association of patient and strain characteris tics with the outcome of meningococcal disease (MD), data were collect ed on 563 consecutive cases of MD reported between 1989 and 1990 in Th e Netherlands. The meningococcal isolates were characterized with rega rd to their surface characteristics. Sequelae occurred in 8.5% of the patients, and were only associated with the presence of bacteraemia. T he case-fatality rate was 7.7%. Infants aged equal to or less than 5 m onths and patients in the age-groups of 10-19 years and equal to or gr eater than 50 years had an increased risk for a fatal outcome compared with children from 6 months to 9 years old (Odds Ratios [ORs]: 5.1, 3 .4 and 9.8, respectively). The OR for females versus males was 2.3. Th e ORs for patients with bacteraemia, or a combination of bacteraemia a nd meningitis, compared with meningitic patients, were 2.3 and 3.1. Me ningococcal strain characteristics did not influence the case-fatality rate substantially. In conclusion, host factors were found to be dete rminants for a fatal outcome of MD in The Netherlands from 1989 to 199 0.