Long-term beneficial effects of dexamethasone on intellectual and neuropsychological outcome of children with pneumococcal meningitis

Abstract

A Substantial ratio of bacterial meningitis survivors suffers mild or serious intellectual and neuropsychological handicaps. We organized eighty subjects into three groups: 1) Pneumococcal meningitis (PM) who did not receive dexamethasone, 2) PM who received dexamethasone, 3) Other bacterial meningitis with different etiology. All subjects underwent Bender Visual Motor Gestalt test and age-appropriate Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests. The mean full-scale IQ scoring fell within normal range (90+/-17) in the post-meningitic cohort. There was no statistical difference between two pneumococcal groups regarding full scale IQ testing (88+/-16 and 91+/-18) and Bender-Gestalt scoring (4.0+/-3.3 and 3.8+/-2.6), respectively. However, the subjects with full scale IQ score <85 (below the average) were statistically less in the group with steroid therapy. PM patients who received dexamethasone therapy had statistically better academic performance. As a result, adjuvant steroid therapy has no significant impact on overall intellectual tests in PM subjects. However, dexamethasone seems to diminish development of below the average IQ scoring in PM cases. In addition, PM subjects who received steroids showed better academic achievement. These findings may support the idea of dexamethasone administration prior to first antibiotic dose in PM subjects.