Hearing in children after meningococcal meningitis

Objective: To review the outcome of sensorineural hearing loss in children who have had confirmed meningococcal meningitis. Methods: A retrospective audit of children admitted to the Starship Childre n's Hospital with a confirmed diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis during a 4-year period. Results: Sixty-five children had confirmed meningococcal meningitis. Dexame thasone was administered according to recommended guidelines in 46 children (72%) while 12 children (19%) did not receive steroids at any stage. All c hildren were appropriately referred for hearing assessment. Forty-nine chil dren (75%) had their hearing tested and reliable sensorineural evaluation w as obtained in all but one case. Thirty-four children (70%) were seen up to 6 weeks from discharge, 86% by 12 weeks. Sixteen cases (25%) did not atten d for audiological assessment. Sensorineural hearing impairment was found i n two children (4.2%). Conclusions: Children with meningococcal meningitis were reliably referred for audiological assessment but 39% either failed to attend for an outpatie nt hearing evaluation (25%) or had an unacceptable delay between discharge and testing (14%). Of those reliably tested, two children (4.2%) had signif icant sensorineural hearing loss.