The changing pattern of bacterial meningitis in adult patients at a large tertiary university hospital in Barcelona, Spain (1982-2010).

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The changing pattern of bacterial meningitis in adult patients at a large tertiary university hospital in Barcelona, Spain (1982-2010).

J Infect. 2013 Feb;66(2):147-54

Authors: Domingo P, Pomar V, Benito N, Coll P

Abstract
BACKGROUND: We conducted a prospective, observational study in Barcelona (Spain) to determine changes in the spectrum of adult patients with bacterial meningitis (BM) over a 29-year period.
METHODS: The observation was divided into two periods: 1982-1995 (I) and 1996-2010 (II). All patients underwent clinical examination on admission and at discharge following a predefined protocol.
RESULTS: We evaluated 635 episodes of BM. The most frequent etiologic agents were Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae in periods I and II, respectively. Patients in period II were older (Median: 47.5 [95%CI: 23.0-64.5] vs. 58.0 [39.0-73.0] years, P<0.0001), had a longer interval from admission to therapy (Median: 2.3 [95%CI: 1.0-5.0] vs. 4.0 [2.0-12.0] hours, P<0.0001), and more frequently had co-morbid conditions (39.1% vs. 62%, P<0.0001). Meningococcal meningitis decreased by 66% (P<0.0001), whereas meningitis by Listeria monocytogenes increased by 110% (P=0.0007) in period II. There were no differences in the overall case-fatality and post-meningitic sequelae rates between both periods.
CONCLUSIONS: BM in adult patients has substantially changed over 29 years in terms of population affected, aetiology, and management, but not in terms of its overall mortality rate and appearance of post-meningitic sequelae.

PMID: 23168216 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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