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Adjuvant corticosteroids lower disease-related mortality in adults with bacterial meningitis, but the role of steroids in children is uncertain, particularly in the post–Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) era. In an observational cohort study, investigators in Philadelphia used administrative data from 27 children’s hospitals to assess the relation among corticosteroid use, death, and time to discharge in children (median age, 9 months) with bacterial meningitis.
Of the 2780 children with discharge diagnoses of bacterial meningitis in 2001 through 2006, 248 (9%) received steroids. The overall short-term mortality rate was 4.2%. In adjusted analyses, adjuvant corticosteroids were not associated with death or time to discharge. Age and etiolo…