Remaining complaints 1 year after treatment for acute Lyme neuroborreliosis; frequency, pattern and risk factors.

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

To chart remaining complaints 1 year after treatment for neuroborreliosis, and to identify risk factors for a non-favorable outcome.

METHODS:

We followed patients treated for neuroborreliosis prospectively, and assessed outcome by a composite clinical score. The impact on outcome of clinical, demographic and laboratory factors were analyzed by univariate analyses and logistic regression.

RESULTS:

Out of 85 patients 41 (48%) had remaining complaints; 14 had objective findings and 27 subjective symptoms. Remaining complaints were associated with pre-treatment symptom duration >or=6 weeks (OR = 4.062, P = 0.044), high pre-treatment cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cell count (OR = 1.005, P = 0.001), and female gender (OR = 3.218, P = 0.025). Presence of CSF oligoclonal bands (OCBs) was not analyzed in the logistic regression model due to many missing observations, but was found to be more frequent both pre-treatment (P = 0.004) and after 12 months (P = 0.015) among patients with remaining complaints as compared to patients with complete recovery. Further evaluation showed that objective remaining findings, and not subjective symptoms, were associated with pre-treatment symptom duration >or=6 weeks. No difference in outcome was observed between patients treated with IV ceftriaxone and patients treated with oral doxycycline.

CONCLUSION:

Remaining complaints are common after neuroborreliosis. The majority of the complaints are subjective. Pre-treatment symptom duration >or=6 weeks, high pre-treatment CSF cell count, and female gender seem to be risk factors for remaining complaints. Presence of CSF OCBs may also predict a non-favorable outcome, but this should be further studied. Whether subjective and objective complaints are associated with different risk factors is also an issue for future studies.

• Authors: U Ljøstad, A Mygland
• Journal: European journal of neurology (Eur J Neurol) Vol. 17 Issue 1 Pg. 118-23 (Jan 2010) ISSN: 1468-1331 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 19645771 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents
• Ceftriaxone
• Doxycycline

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Anti-Bacterial Agents (therapeutic use)
• Ceftriaxone (therapeutic use)
• Chronic Disease (epidemiology)
• Comorbidity
• Doxycycline (therapeutic use)
• Female
• Humans
• Leukocyte Count (statistics & numerical data)
• Lyme Neuroborreliosis (drug therapy, epidemiology, physiopathology)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Prevalence
• Prospective Studies
• Risk Factors
• Sex Distribution
• Time
• Time Factors