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Long term outcome of neonatal meningitis
1University of Alberta, 3A3.43 Stollery Children's Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2B7, Canada. js20@ualberta.ca
Insights
Neonatal meningitis can cause long-term neurodevelopmental issues, including lower IQ and motor skill deficits. Comprehensive follow-up assessments are crucial for affected children to identify and manage these impairments.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric neurology
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Infectious diseases in children
Background:
- Neonatal meningitis is a serious infection that can lead to significant health problems.
- Long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes after neonatal meningitis require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the long-term neurodevelopmental impairments in children following neonatal meningitis.
- To compare outcomes in children with a history of neonatal meningitis against matched control groups.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal case-control study followed 111 children with neonatal meningitis and 113 hospital-matched controls over 9-10 years.
- Assessments included cognitive (WISC III), motor (Movement Assessment Battery for Children), audiometry, vision, and social/medical data.
- Statistical analyses employed multiple regression, ANOVA, and chi-squared tests.
Main Results:
- Children with neonatal meningitis showed significantly lower mean IQ (88.8) compared to hospital (99.4) and GP controls (99.6).
- Motor skills were significantly impaired in cases (mABC score 7.08) versus controls (5 and 4).
- Higher rates of sensorineural hearing loss (3.6%), hydrocephalus (2.7%), and seizure treatment (5.4%) were observed in cases.
Conclusions:
- Neonatal meningitis is associated with severe neurodisability and milder motor and psychometric impairments.
- Clinical follow-up and comprehensive developmental assessments are essential for children recovering from neonatal meningitis.
Objectives:
To quantify long term impairment after neonatal meningitis.
Design:
Longitudinal case-control study over 9-10 years.
Subjects And Methods:
A total of 111 children who had suffered neonatal meningitis were seen and compared with 113 matched controls from their birth hospital and 49 controls from general practices. Assessments included the WISC III(UK), movement assessment battery for children (mABC), audiometry, vision testing, and social and medical data. Statistical analysis was by multiple regression, analysis of variance, and chi(2) tests.
Results:
Some 10.8% of cases had a severe and 9% a moderate overall outcome compared with 0% and 1.8% for the hospital controls. The mean intelligence quotient (IQ) of the cases (88.8) was significantly less than that of the hospital controls (99.4) or the GP controls (99.6). The mABC score was significantly worse for the cases (7.08) than the hospital (5) or GP (4) controls. Some 3.6% of cases had sensorineural hearing loss, 2.7% had persisting hydrocephalus; no controls did. Some 5.4% of cases and 1.7% of hospital controls had treatment for seizures.
Conclusions:
Severe neurodisability and milder motor and psychometric impairment result from neonatal meningitis. Both clinical follow up and comprehensive developmental assessment are needed after this disease.