Social factors associated with tuberculous meningitis. A study of children and their families in the western Cape.
A descriptive study was conducted in order to assess some of the social factors associated with the long-term effects of tuberculous meningitis on children and their families. The specific areas examined were the socio-economic status of the children, maternal employment, the utilisation of health services and the scholastic progress of the children. Recommendations are made. The sample was drawn from a register of children with tuberculous meningitis in the Western Cape Health Region for the period 1985-1987. All the available survivors (16 black and 91 coloured children) were included in the study and the care-giver was interviewed by a researcher. Forty-six subjects lived in an urban area and 61 in a rural area. All the children came from socially deprived families and lived in over-crowded conditions; a significant number of families had incomes below the household subsistence level. Of the mothers previously employed, 35% had stopped working and 19% of the families experienced a financial loss as a result of the child's illness. The majority of urban children utilised public health services and the majority of rural children were dependent on the private sector for health care. School-going children had a high failure rate (53%).
Krauss-Mars
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AH
Child Health Unit, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town.
Lachman
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PI
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003710:Demography; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014505:Urban Population