Cognitive outcome in adults after bacterial meningitis

M. Hoogman, D. van de Beek, M. Weisfelt, J. Gans, B.A. Schmand

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

160 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate cognitive outcome in adult survivors of bacterial meningitis. METHODS: Data from three prospective multicentre studies were pooled and reanalysed, involving 155 adults surviving bacterial meningitis (79 after pneumococcal and 76 after meningococcal meningitis) and 72 healthy controls. RESULTS: Cognitive impairment was found in 32% of patients and this proportion was similar for survivors of pneumococcal and meningococcal meningitis. Survivors of pneumococcal meningitis performed worse on memory tasks (p <0.001) and tended to be cognitively slower than survivors of meningococcal meningitis (p = 0.08). We found a diffuse pattern of cognitive impairment in which cognitive speed played the most important role. Cognitive performance was not related to time since meningitis; however, there was a positive association between time since meningitis and self-reported physical impairment (p <0.01). The frequency of cognitive impairment and the numbers of abnormal test results for patients with and without adjunctive dexamethasone were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Adult survivors of bacterial meningitis are at risk of cognitive impairment, which consists mainly of cognitive slowness. The loss of cognitive speed is stable over time after bacterial meningitis; however, there is a significant improvement in subjective physical impairment in the years after bacterial meningitis. The use of dexamethasone was not associated with cognitive impairment
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)1092-1096
JournalJournal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
Volume78
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Cite this