Elsevier

Journal of Infection

Volume 10, Issue 2, March 1985, Pages 143-157
Journal of Infection

Original article
Pneumococcal meningitis: An evaluation of prognostic factors in 164 cases based on mortality and on a study of lasting sequelae

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-4453(85)91585-3Get rights and content

Summary

During the period 1966–76, 164 patients with pneumococcal meningitis were admitted to the University Hospital, Copenhagen. Of iii survivors 94 underwent a series of clinical examinations. The findings in each patient were assessed for their aetiological relationship to meningitis. Of these patients 54% had neurological sequelae, 42% had neuropsychological sequelae, 25 % had otological sequelae and 16% had sequelae as judged by computer-assisted tomography of the brain.

On the basis of the general clinical condition, each patient was evaluated for the presence of sequelae of meningitis by means of a rating of nil, mild, moderate or severe. These ratings and mortality rates were used to evaluate the prognostic significance of various features present during the acute illness. A fatal outcome was significantly associated with increasing age, concomitant pneumonia, altered consciousness on admission, transfer from another hospital and development of complications while in hospital. There was a statistically significant association between lasting sequelae and the female sex, the age group of 16–50 years, patients who had not received any pre-admission antibiotic therapy and those with positive bacterial cultures of specimens from sites other than blood or cerebrospinal fluid.

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    Case series on adults with pneumococcal meningitis have been published previously. However, these studies were mainly retrospective.1,3–15 In this prospective cohort study we provide a detailed description of the clinical course, the spectrum of complications, prognostic factors, and outcome in 352 adults with community-acquired pneumococcal meningitis.

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