Meningococcal disease has high risk neurological deficits

Invasive meningococcal disease is common among adolescents and usually does not cause serious illness. But in some severe cases, it has a disturbing series of deficits, including depression, low educational achievement and poor quality of life, investigators report in the March issue of Pediatrics.

Dr. Russell Viner of University College London, UK, and colleagues conducted a population-based, case-controlled study of 101 matched pairs between the ages of 15 and 19 when they become ill.

The investigators evaluated the physical and mental health status of the subjects 18 to 36 months after disease resolution, along with an assessment of educational, social and vocational functioning, and self-sufficiency and quality of life.

More than half (57 percent) of meningococcal disease survivors had "major physical" effects of the infection" the researchers found. The patients also had significantly higher levels of depression, poorer quality of life, greater fatigue and less social support than controls. Younger age was associated with greater cognitive deficits.

Only half of cases "reported any medical follow-up care after invasive meningococcal disease," Viner told Reuters Health.

"We need routine follow-up of these teenagers," he said. "We do this well for younger kids but not for teens. We need to screen for more subtle problems such as depression and educational failure," Viner asserted. "We are developing new tools to help general practitioners do this."

Pediatrics 2009;123:e502-e509.