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| Year : 1998 | Volume
: 46
| Issue : 3 | Page : 225--228 |
Role of dexamethasone as adjunctive therapy in acute bacterial meningitis in adults.
S Bhaumik, M Behari
Department of Neurology, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi - 110 029, India
Correspondence Address:
S Bhaumik
Department of Neurology, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi - 110 029
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
PMID: 29508781 
Thirty patients of bacterial meningitis (age >12 years) were randomised into two treatment groups. Group I (n=14) received intravenous dexamethasone with antibiotics and group II (n=16)received only antibiotics. Baseline demographic, clinical and laboratory features of the two groups were similar. Four patients died, three in control group and one in dexamethasone group (p=0.60). Focal neurological deficits at discharge were found in three patients receiving dexamethasone and two in control group (p=0.64). Audiological sequelae were found in seven (23) patients, four in group I and three in group II (p = 1.00) but there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. No steroid side effects were noted. In the present study, dexamethasone treatment was not found to significantly improve survival but sample size was too small to reliably exclude clinically important benefit of dexamethasone. Larger randomised controlled studies in adult population are needed to reliably estimate the effects of dexamethasone as adjunctive therapy in acute bacterial meningitis in adults.
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