Frequency of ischemic stroke in patients with bacterial meningitis visiting to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center Karachi. Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective. To determine the frequency of ischemic stroke in patients presenting with bacterial meningitis visiting to JPMC. Material and method. Descriptive cross-sectional study, held in Neurology ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from 20thapril 2018 to 20th October 2018. Patients aged >18 years of either gender with acute bacterial meningitis were included, written informed consent was obtained from all participants and also approval of ethical review committee of the institute was obtained. CT scan brain or MRI brain performed in all the included patients to assess ischemic stroke. All the collected data were recorded on proforma. The data was analysed using SPSS version 20. Results. 168 patients of bacterial meningitis were included. Mean ± SD of age was 63.48 ±10.53 (61.87-65.08) years. Out of 168 patients, 118 (70.28%) were male and 50 (29.76%) were female. The frequency of ischemic stroke in patients with bacterial meningitis was found to be 22(13.09%). In stratification of age group, 18-40 years and > 40 years, ischemic stroke was found in 4 (6.2%) and 18 (17.3%) patients respectively. In stratification of gender frequency of ischemic stroke in patients with bacterial meningitis in our study was found to be (16.9% among males and 4% among females). Conclusions. The frequency of ischemic stroke in patients with bacterial meningitis was 13.09% and it is associated with poor outcome so high degree of suspicion is necessary for timely diagnosis and treatment of this life threatening complication. Ischemic stroke was found to be significantly more common in old patients as compared to young adults, also more common in males as compared to females.

Keywords

• bacterial meningitis
• ischemic stroke
• nervous system
• pakistan