Sequelae due to bacterial meningitis among African children: a systematic literature review

Table 7 Post-discharge outcomes for the three main bacterial pathogens, by study

Reference	Bacteria	Country	No. cases discharged	PD CFR	Average follow-up time, months (or range)	Total no. assessed for sequelae	HL (%)	VL (%)	CD (%)	SLD (%)	BP (%)	MI (%)	SZ (%)	Any neuropsychological sequelae (%)
[41]	Spn	Egypt	77	0%	3	77	5%	0%	0%			0%		5%
[48]	Spn	Cameroon			14	34	21%	6%	9%	9%	3%	6%^a	9%	41%
[22]	Spn	The Gambia	70	23%	(11 to 90)	31	48%	23%	32%			48%^b	10%	58%
[41]	Hib	Egypt	39	0%	3	39	0%	0%	0%			0%		0%
[36]	Hib	The Gambia	58	16%	8	48								13%
[22]	Hib	The Gambia	90	14%	(11 to 90)	42	21%	2%	14%			12%^b	26%	38%
[50]	Nm	Tunisia	55		60	55								9%
[41]	Nm	Egypt	251	0%	3	251	2%	0%	0%			1%^a		3%

This table shows the findings of studies with post-discharge follow-up of at least 25 children following confirmed bacterial meningitis (CBM) caused by 1 of the 3 main bacterial pathogens. The number of cases discharged was calculated based on the number of CBM cases included in the study minus the number of children reported who died in hospital. Post-discharge case fatality ratio (CFR) was calculated as the number of deaths after discharge divided by the number of cases with known follow-up; the denominator does not include cases lost to follow-up.
^aParalysis; ^bgross motor impairment.
BP = behavioural problem; CD = cognitive delay; Hib = Haemophilus influenzae type b; HL = hearing loss; MI = motor impairment; Nm = Neisseria meningitidis; Spn = Streptococcus pneumoniae; SLD = speech or language disorder; SZ = seizures; VL = vision loss.

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