Value of cerebrospinal fluid il-8 and ifn-y level in early diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis and evaluation of prognosis

Abstract

Objective: The objective is to analyse the value of cerebrospinal fluid interleukin-8 (IL 8) and interferon-y (IFN-y) levels in the early diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis and the evaluation of the prognosis. Methods: Patients with tuberculosis meningitis, non-infectious neuropathy, and viral meningitis who were admitted to our hospital from September 2017 to May 2019 were selected, with 40 cases in each group. The difference in the IL-8 and IFN-y levels in each group was compared. The role of the cerebrospinal fluid IL-8 and IFN-y levels in patients with tuberculosis meningitis and its value in the diagnosis and prognosis of tuberculosis meningitis were analysed. Results: The levels of IL-8 and IFN-y in the tuberculosis meningitis group were significantly higher than those in both the viral meningitis and non-infectious neuropathy groups (P.05). The levels of IL-8 and IFN-y in patients with viral meningitis were obviously higher than those of the non-infectious neuropathy group, and the difference was statistically significant (P.05). The levels of IL-8 and IFN-y in patients with tuberculous meningitis after 7 and 14 d of treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment (P.05), and the levels of IL-8 and IFN-y after 14 d of treatment was markedly lower than those after 7 d of treatment. The differences were statistically significant (P.05). In the tuberculosis meningitis group, the levels of IL-8 and IFN-y were positively correlated with the clinical stage before treatment (P.01), and the level of IL-8 was positively correlated with the level of IFN-y (P.01). The results of the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the areas under the curve of IL-8 and IFN-y in judging the prognosis of patients with tuberculosis meningitis were 0.809 and 0.855, respectively. The sensitivities were 70.22% and 82.80%, respectively, and the specificities were 82.62% and 78.23%, respectively, which could be used as specific indices to judge the prognosis of patients with tuberculosis meningitis. Conclusion: Both IL-8 and IFN-y are involved in the pathophysiological process of tuberculosis meningitis. The level of the two indices is closely related to the severity of the disease. The combined detection has certain clinical value in judging the prognosis of the disease and is worth popularising and using in the clinic.