Characteristics and immediate outcome of childhood meningitis treated in the pediatric intensive care unit.
OBJECTIVE
To describe patient characteristics, use of technology and mortality in children with meningitis admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).


METHODS
Retrospective cohort study.


METHODS
Fifteen US PICUs.


METHODS
All admissions with a diagnosis of meningitis between 1995 and 2000 in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Evaluations (PICUEs) database.


RESULTS
Of 559 patients with meningitis, 58% were male. The median age was 19 months and the median length of PICU stay was 2 days. The crude PICU mortality rate was 7%. Three hundred thirty-four (60%) patients had bacterial meningitis. Non-survivors had significantly higher Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) III scores and also constituted a larger proportion of the patients with bacterial meningitis, coma and shock upon PICU admission. The use of invasive devices was higher among non-survivors, patients with bacterial meningitis or those who were in coma or shock upon PICU admission. There was significant variation in the use of intracranial pressure (ICP) monitors by coma status and by institution. In multivariate analysis, patients had 1.26 higher odds of mortality for each unit increase in PRISM III score (odds ratio 1.26, 95% confidence interval: 1.19-1.34), while adjusting for other variables.


CONCLUSIONS
In a large cohort of children admitted to the PICU with meningitis, severity of illness, particularly the presence of shock or coma, was significantly associated with both the higher use of invasive medical devices and higher mortality. There was significant variation in the use of ICP monitors among the various PICUs without statistical association with survival.
Odetola
Folafoluwa O
FO
Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine , University of Michigan Medical School and University Health System, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. fodetola@med.umich.edu
Bratton
Susan L
SL
D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D007427:Intracranial Pressure; D007902:Length of Stay; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome