Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38432966›Full record

ArticleInternal medicine (Tokyo, Japan)2024

A Reduction in the Number of Hospitalized Cases of Acute Meningitis during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan.

Tetsuya Akaishi, Kunio Tarasawa, Kiyohide Fushimi, Chiharu Ota, Sumireko Sekiguchi, Tetsuji Aoyagi, Nobuo Yaegashi, Masashi Aoki, Kenji Fujimori

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 26% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Tetsuya AkaishiDepartment of Neurology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Kunio TarasawaDepartment of Health Administration and Policy, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Kiyohide FushimiDepartment of Health Policy and Informatics, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Japan.
Chiharu OtaDepartment of Pediatrics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Sumireko SekiguchiDepartment of Neurology, Izumi Hospital, Japan.
Tetsuji AoyagiDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Nobuo YaegashiDevelopment and Environmental Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Masashi AokiDepartment of Neurology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Kenji FujimoriDepartment of Health Administration and Policy, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Tohoku University · JPIzumi City General Hospital · JPTokyo Medical and Dental University · JP

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective The changes in the prevalence of acute meningitis during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remain unclear. This study aimed to compare the prevalence of acute meningitis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the Japanese nationwide administrative medical payment system database, Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC), from 2016 to 2022. A total of 547 hospitals consistently and seamlessly offered DPC data during this period. The study period was divided into the following three periods: April 2016 to March 2018 (fiscal years 2016-2017), April 2018-March 2020 (2018-2019), and April 2020-March 2022 (2020-2021). Results Among the 28,161,806 patients hospitalized during the study period, 28,399 were hospitalized for acute meningitis: 16,678 for viral/aseptic type, 6,189 for bacterial type, 655 for fungal type, 429 for tuberculous, 2,310 for carcinomatous type, and 2,138 for other or unknown types of meningitis. A significant decrease during the pandemic was confirmed in viral (n=7,032, n=5,775, and n=3,871 in each period; p<0.0001) and bacterial meningitis (n=2,291, n=2,239, and n=1,659; p<0.0001) cases. Meanwhile, no decrease was observed in fungal meningitis (n=212, n=246, and n=197; p=0.056) or carcinomatous meningitis (n=781, n=795, and n=734; p=0.27). The decrease in the number of tuberculous meningitis cases was equivocal (n=166, n=146, and n=117; p=0.014). The decrease during the pandemic was more remarkable in younger populations aged <50 years than in older populations, both for viral and bacterial meningitis. Conclusion The number of hospitalized cases of acute meningitis clearly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for viral and bacterial meningitis in younger populations aged <50 years.

Indexed as

COVID-19HospitalizationAcute DiseaseAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornJapanMaleMeningitisbacterial meningitisCOVID-19 pandemicDPC databaseprevalenceviral meningitis

Identifiers

PMID38432966
PMCPMC11157317
OpenAlexW4392442973

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

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.