SynthesisChild's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery2018
Meta-analysis of adjunctive dexamethasone to improve clinical outcome of bacterial meningitis in children.
Synthesis in Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Hormonal influence on hearing].HNO · 2021Pooled it
- Recent advancements in pediatric purulent meningitis: diagnosis and treatment.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2026Review
- Dexamethasone as Adjuvant Therapy for Bacterial Meningitis in Children: What AboutOpen forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Changes in the incidence of acute bacterial meningitis caused byFrontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- Nationwide Population-Based Epidemiological Study for Outcomes of Adjunctive Steroid Therapy in Pediatric Patients with Bacterial Meningitis in Taiwan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Bacterial Meningitis in Children: Neurological Complications, Associated Risk Factors, and Prevention.Microorganisms · 2021Review
- Audiologic and Otologic Complications of Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis in Non-HIV Previously Healthy Patients.Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology · 2019Observational
- Dexamethasone does not prevent hydrocephalus after severe intraventricular hemorrhage in newborn rats.PloS one · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe current recommended therapies for bacterial meningitis are effective antimicrobial agents and the implementation of childhood vaccination programs. However, the role of adjunctive dexamethasone therapy in bacterial meningitis remains controversial.
methodsUsing meta-analysis, this study aims to investigate the efficacy of adjunctive dexamethasone therapy in bacterial meningitis by comparing it with antibiotic therapy. Documents of randomized controlled trials (RCT) related to the treatment of bacterial meningitis in children with dexamethasone published since the establishment of the databases to December in 2016 were retrieved from the databases of Cochrane Library, Pubmed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Chinese BioMedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. The references in RCT were retrieved by hands at the same time. Full texts of screened documents were searched and given qualitative review, and then, all RCT included were analyzed statistically by using Review Manger 5.3 software.
resultsThe search yielded 15 studies (2409 children cases), among which 4 fall in grade A and 11 were grade B. The results of meta-analysis have shown that patients who received dexamethasone have significantly lower risks in incidence of hearing loss (OR = 0.68, 95%CI 0.53-0.89, P = 0.004) and severe neurological sequelae (OR = 0.59, 95%CI 0.37-0.95, P = 0.03), but the follow-up mortality is hardly effected (OR = 0.86, 95%CI 0.67-1.10, P = 0.23).
conclusionsEvidence has proven that the adjunctive administration of dexamethasone is conducive to treating children with bacterial meningitis to a certain extent, to decreasing the possibility of hearing loss and severe neurological sequelae, but has no significant effect on the follow-up mortality.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.