title: Etiology and complications of central nervous system infections in children treated in a pediatric intensive care unit in Poland.
abstract: Central nervous system infections are significant causes of mortality and long-term neurologic complications in children. Survivors often require an extended period of rehabilitation. The authors carried out a retrospective analysis of 1158 children (aged 1 month to 16 years; 31 boys) treated in one pediatric intensive care unit in Warsaw between 2002 and 2010. Forty-three of 1158 (3.7%) children presented with neuroinfections. Nearly two-thirds of the children were younger than age 5 years. The majority of cases (62.8%) were vaccine-preventable bacterial infections. The most frequent complications were brain edema (30.2%), brain hemorrhage (27.9%), and secondary nosocomial pneumonia (25.6%). One-fifth of children developed late, long-term neurologic complications. The mortality rate was 20.9%. The study showed that central nervous system infections are significant causes of hospitalization in the pediatric intensive care unit and often result in death or long-term complications. These infections mainly affect children younger than age 5 years. The majority could be prevented with immunizations.
authors: 1Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors: Ernest
authors: E
authors: Kuchar
authors: Aneta
authors: A
authors: Nitsch-Osuch
authors: Marta
authors: M
authors: Rorat
authors: Sadia
authors: S
authors: Namani
authors: Dorota
authors: D
authors: Pabianek
authors: Agnieszka
authors: A
authors: Topczewska-Cabanek
authors: Katarzyna
authors: K
authors: Zycinska
authors: Kazimierz
authors: K
authors: Wardyn
authors: Leszek
authors: L
authors: Szenborn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002494:Central Nervous System Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: encephalitis; infection; meningitis; prophylaxis; seizures; sequelae