Bacterial meningitis in young adults in Southern Taiwan: clinical characteristics and therapeutic outcomes.
BACKGROUND
To delineate the epidemiologic trend, clinical characteristics and therapeutic outcomes of bacterial meningitis in young adults in Southern Taiwan.


METHODS
Over a period of 18 years, 329 cases of culture-proven adult bacterial meningitis were identified at our hospital. Among these 329 cases, 62 were identified as young adults (< or = 40 years) and their clinical features, laboratory data and therapeutic outcomes were reviewed. The prognostic factors between fatal and non-fatal groups were compared.


RESULTS
The 62 young adults were 48 men and 14 women, aged 17-40 years. Thirty of the 62 patients belonged to nosocomial infection, and the other 32 belonged to community-acquired infection. A total of 74% (46/62) of the patients had a post-neurosurgical state as the underlying condition. Alcoholism (n = 8) was the most common underlying condition of the other 16 patients with spontaneous meningitis. Of these 62 patients, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most common implicated gram-negative pathogens. During the late study period, there was an increase in coagulase-negative staphylococcus and Staphylococcus aureus infections. The therapeutic results of this group of patients are as follows: 13 patients died, 18 had full recovery and 31 had varying degrees of neurologic deficits. Impaired consciousness and thrombocytopenia were significant prognostic factors.


CONCLUSIONS
A post-neurosurgical state is an important preceding event for young adults to develop bacterial meningitis. Of the implicated gram-negative pathogens, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa are common; however, there has been an increase in staphylococcal infection in recent years. Therapeutic results of this specific group of patients showed that 20% (13/62) of the patients died, and 50% (31/61) of the patients in this study had neurologic deficits. However, the small case number and possible bias of case selection has limited the analytical conclusions of this study. Further large-scale studies are needed to delineate the clinical characteristics and therapeutic outcomes of bacterial meningitis in this specific group of patients.
Tsai
M-H
MH
Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung, 123 Ta-Pei Road, Niao Sung Hsiang, Kaohsiung Hsien 833, Taiwan.
Lu
C-H
CH
Huang
C-R
CR
Chuang
Y-C
YC
Tsai
N-W
NW
Tsai
H-H
HH
Chen
S-F
SF
Li
C-S
CS
Chang
H-W
HW
Chien
C-C
CC
Chang
W-N
WN
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D011379:Prognosis; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012307:Risk Factors; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome