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Bacterial meningitis-induced ataxia linked to hearing loss in children
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Pediatric patients diagnosed with bacterial meningitis who experienced mild to severe symptoms of ataxia also were likely to develop hearing loss dependent on the severity of ataxia, according to recently published study findings
“We found that ataxia was more frequent and lasted longer than learned from previous studies and associated with not only, above all, disease severity but also specifically, albeit not consistently, with hearing loss,” Irmeli Roine, MD, of the faculty of medicine at the University Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile, and colleagues wrote. “Thus, ataxia is not an indifferent minor sequelae, but a clinical indicator of likely inner ear impairment in the form of hearing loss and its magnitude.”
The researchers studied a cohort of 553 children admitted to a single sub-Saharan African hospital with bacterial meningitis, between 2005 and 2008. Of the 553 children, 187 died before day 7, 361 were evaluated for ataxia severity on day 7, and the remaining five children were not tested. Ataxia degree was evaluated on a severity scale of no ataxia, mild ataxia, moderate ataxia and severe ataxia. Finally, 195 members of the original cohort were evaluated at a 1-month follow-up visit.
Study results showed that ataxia was present in 243 of the 361 pediatric patients evaluated on day 7. Severity of ataxia was recorded, with 21% reporting mild ataxia, 38% reporting moderate ataxia and 41% reporting severe ataxia.
Ataxia was found to be associated with hearing loss and impairment (P < .0001). The researchers also noted that the severity of ataxia determined the extent and severity of hearing loss (P < .0001).
Bacterial meningitis-induced ataxia also was found to be associated with symptoms of psychomotor retardation (P < .0001), blindness (P < .0001), quadriplegia (P = .02) and monoparesis (P = .03).
“Ataxia after bacterial meningitis may have a vestibular origin, instead of being cerebellar, like most cases of acquired post-infectious ataxia of childhood,” Roine and colleagues wrote. “Further studies are warranted to clarify the role of vestibular dysfunction among ataxic children after bacterial meningitis.” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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