Long-Term Morbidity and Functional Outcome of Japanese Encephalitis in Children: A Prospective Cohort Study

To describe the long term morbidity and functional outcome of Japanese encephalitis in children.

Laboratory-confirmed Japanese encephalitis cases were enrolled in the study from January, 2016 to September, 2017 and surviving cases were prospectively followed up for 2.5 years to document various morbidities. Outcome was functionally graded at discharge and during follow-up using Liverpool outcome score.

Out of 56 children enrolled, 10 (17.9%) died during hospital stay; severe sequelae was observed in 17 (30.4%) at discharge. At the end of study, among 37 children under follow-up, 23 (62.2%) recovered fully, 2 (5.4%) showed minor sequelae, 3 (8.1%) had moderate sequelae, and 9 (24.3%) were left with severe sequelae. Common long term morbidities were abnormal behavior (n=10, 27%), post encephalitic epilepsy (n=8, 21.6%), poor scholastic performance (n=8, 21.6%) and residual motor deficit (n=7, 18.9%). Improvement of morbidities was noted mostly within initial 1 year of follow-up.

More than half of the Japanese encephalitis survivors recovered fully, most within the first year after discharge.