Sex-based differences in bacterial meningitis in adults: Epidemiology, clinical features, and therapeutic outcomes.

Background: To investigate the sex-based differences in clinical features, causative pathogens, and outcomes of hospital-based culture-proven adult bacterial meningitis.

Objective: This retrospective study enrolled 621 patients at a tertiary medical center. To compare changes over time, the presentation of disease among the enrolled patients was divided into two equal time periods: the first study period (1986-2002) and the second study period (2003-2019).