Factors Associated with the Death of Children Aged 0 to 15 Years with Bacterial Meningitis in the Pediatric Department of Donka National Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Bacterial meningitis is a serious, life-threatening infection; its diagnosis must be early and its management must be rapid. Bacteria commonly implicated in children are Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumonia and Haemophilus influenzae type b. The specific etiology is a function of age, immune function, vaccination status, genetics, and geographic location. Objective: To identify the factors associated with death in children aged 0 to 15 with bacterial meningitis in the pediatric department of Donka National Hospital. Methods: Prospective, descriptive and analytical study of 6 months (April 12 to October 12, 2022) including children aged 0-15 years with bacterial meningitis confirmed by cyto-bacteriological analysis of CSF. Results: From of a total of 766 children, we collected 118 cases of bacterial meningitis, either frequency of 15.4%. The average age was 3.97 ± 4.06 years with extremes of 1 month and 15 years. The sex ratio was 1.5 in favor of boys. Altered consciousness (p < 0.001), delay in consultation > 3 days (p = 0.01), poor nutritional status (p = 0.0000063904), cloudy appearance of the CSF (p = 0.003) and presence of serious signs (p = 0.0000050753) such as shock, generalized hypertonia, signs of decortication and decerebration were poor prognostic factors. The mortality rate observed in this work was 23.7%. Conclusion: Child hood bacterial meningitis often leads to death in children admitted to the pediatric ward of Donka National Hospital. Children who received this diagnosis and who also had an alteration of consciousness a consultation delay of more than 3 days with signs of severity had an increased risk of dying.