Incidence of tuberculous meningitis in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Cíntia Helena de Souza, Ayaka Yamane, Jeison Cleiton Pandini, Luciane Bisognin Ceretta, Fabiane Ferraz, Glauco Duarte da Luz, Priscyla Waleska Simões
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2014
• Subjects: Incidence; Epidemiology; Meningeal tuberculosis; Brazil; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0122-2014; https://doaj.org/article/0101f0ccb561467e9744adc962498d31

Introduction The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of tuberculous meningitis in the State of Santa Catarina (SC), Brazil, during the period from 2001 to 2010. Methods Ecological, temporal, and descriptive methods were employed using data obtained from the Information System on Disease Notification (Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação). Results One hundred sixteen reported cases of tuberculous meningitis occurred from 2001 to 2010, corresponding to 1.2% (0.2 cases/100,000 inhabitants) of all meningitis cases reported in SC. There was a predominance of new cases in males, corresponding to 56.9% of new cases (0.2 cases/100,000 inhabitants; males vs. females; p=0.374), in patients aged 20-39 years, corresponding to 52.6% of new cases (0.5 cases/100,000 inhabitants; 20-39 years versus others; p<0.001), and in urban areas, corresponding to 91.4% of new cases (0.2 cases/100,000 inhabitants; urban vs. rural; p=0.003). In 48.3% of cases, the outcome was death. Conclusions The incidence rate of tuberculous meningitis in SC has increased within the last decade, with the most affected population comprising young adult white males with an average education. Thus, tuberculous meningitis remains a serious disease, emphasizing the need for disease prevention with vaccination campaigns against tuberculosis, the development of faster and more accurate diagnostic methods, and the use of current epidemiological knowledge regarding the disease to facilitate the establishment of early treatment.