Pneumococcal Meningitis in Children: Prognostic Indicators and Outcome

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases 1995-12, Vol.21 (6), p.1390-1397
• Main Authors: Kornelisse, R. F., Westerbeek, C. M. L., Spoor, A. B., van der Heijde, B., Spanjaard, L., Neijens, H. J., de Groot, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult respiratory distress syndrome; Age Factors; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial diseases of the nervous system. Bacterial myositis; Bacterial meningitis; Biological and medical sciences; Causality; Child; Child health services; Child, Preschool; Children; Clinical Articles; Female; Health outcomes; Hearing loss; Hospital admissions; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Meningitis, Pneumococcal - cerebrospinal fluid; Meningitis, Pneumococcal - mortality; Meningitis, Pneumococcal - physiopathology; Meningitis, Pneumococcal - therapy; Mortality; Neurologic Examination; Pneumococcal meningitis; Prognosis; Respiratory distress; Serotyping; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Streptococcus pneumoniae - classification; Streptococcus pneumoniae - isolation & purification; Survival Analysis
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1093/clinids/21.6.1390

We studied the outcome of pneumococcal meningitis in 83 children who were admitted to a referral hospital and whosemeningitis was diagnosed between 1970 and 1994. The median age of the children was 8 months. The most frequently isolated capsular serotypes and/or serogroups of Streptococcus pneumoniae were 6, 14, 18, 19, and 23. Twenty-ninechildren (35%) were referred by other hospitals. A mortality rate of 17% (primary referrals, 7%; secondary referrals, 35%) was observed. At discharge,25 survivors(36%) had sequelae: hearing loss(⩾30 dB)in 19%and neurological sequelaein 25%. During admission, the presenceofcoma,respiratorydistress,shock,a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein level of ⩾2.5 gIL, a peripheral white blood cell count of