title: Seizures complicating infantile and childhood bacterial meningitis.
abstract: In this study, 116 patients, at least 1 month of age but younger than 5 years, were identified with culture-proven bacterial meningitis. A comparison was made between the clinical data of the patients with and without seizures during hospitalization. Seizures during acute bacterial meningitis accounted for 47% (55/116) of the episodes. Time interval between the onset of bacterial meningitis and that of seizures was 1 to 20 days (mean, 4 days). Twelve of these 55 patients had one or more afebrile seizures after completing the treatment. At follow-up of at least 1 year after completing treatment, 26 patients had good outcomes, whereas the other 29 patients had poor outcomes. A strong correlation between the findings of abnormalities through neuroimaging and the occurrence of seizures during hospitalization was observed. The long-term outcomes of patients with infantile and childhood bacterial meningitis, who had seizures during the acute phase of bacterial meningitis, were worse than the outcomes of those who did not have such seizures. No child developed late seizures unless there were acute seizures. Factors associated with seizures during acute bacterial meningitis include disturbed consciousness on admission, abnormal neuroimaging findings, and low glucose and high concentration of total proteins in cerebrospinal fluid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chia-Yi, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chin-Jung
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Hsueh-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Wen-Neng
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Li-Tung
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Song-Chei
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Ying-Chao
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Pi-Lien
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Chen-Sheng
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Yao-Chung
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: Chi-Ren
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Nai-Wen
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Huan-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Tsui
authors.forename: Kuo-Wei
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Cheng-Hsien
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric