European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

TO STUDY THE POSSIBLE RISK FACTORS FOR HEARING IMPAIRMENT IN INFANTS WHO HAD MENINGITIS DURING NEONATAL PERIOD

*Sheikh Quyoom Hussain, Ubaid Ullah Wani and Zahid Akbar Mir

ABSTRACT

Background: Post meningitis hearing impairment is an important public health problem. Neonatal meningitis is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in neonates in future life. An important consequence is hearing loss.[1] Hearing plays a basic and important role in language, speech and intellectual development.Bacterial meningitis can cause deafness due to peripheral or central hearing loss. Bacterial meningitis causes lesions via immune, inflammatory, and ischaemic reactions, or by cerebral oedema. Aim: To study the possible risk factors for hearing impairment in infants who had meningitis during neonatal period. Material and methods: It was an observational prospective study carried out in the Neonatology Section, Department of Pediatrics, GB Panth Childrens hospital Srinagar. Results: In our study total number of cases were 87.Hearing loss was observed in 11 (12.6%) of our study children. Patients in Group 1 had a mean of 1047.8cumm CSF cell count while as patients in Group 2 had mean of 658.3cumm CSF cell count.Patients in Group 1 had a mean of 31.2mg/dl glucose in CSF while as patients in Group 2 had mean of 44.5 mg/dl glucose in CSF. Patients in Group 1 had a mean of 191.2mg/dl protein in CSF while as patients in Group 2 had mean of 183.4 mg/dl protein in CSF. Conclusion: Postmeningitic hearing impairment is an important public health problem with implications for both paediatric and audiology services. It is more associated with high CSF cell count, low CSF glucose, high CSF protein, with seizures, late onset of treatment and longer hospital stay.

Keywords: meningitis, hearing impairment, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). To study the possible risk factors for hearing impairment in infants who had meningitis during neonatal period.