Meningitis in infancy affects academic achievement

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who survive meningitis in infancy are significantly less likely to pass school-graduation exams compared with their counterparts without this serious infection, according to the results of a new study conducted in England and Wales. Even meningitis survivors who seem to be normal at age 5 are at increased risk for poor academic performance.

Dr. John de Louvois and colleagues from the Imperial College School of Medicine, London, compared the results of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations taken at age 16 years for 461 teenagers who had bacterial meningitis in infancy and 289 of their peers who did not have meningitis.

The investigators used the following to compare the two groups of adolescents: type of school attended; number of GCSE examinations taken; number of examinations passed and the grades obtained (A through C); and achievement in five key subjects.

Overall, 36 of the former meningitis patients (7.8 percent) attended special schools, based on an assessment of meningitis-related disability at age 5 years, according to the report, published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

When the researchers considered students from all schools, they found that 25.4 percent of the meningitis adolescents did not pass any GCSE examinations, compared with 6.6 percent of controls.

Among those who attended comprehensive schools, significantly more former meningitis patients than controls failed to achieve the national educational standard passing grade of C for five subjects -- 47.8 percent versus 25.4 percent, respectively.

Furthermore, the failure rate at comprehensive schools was 48.9 percent in the former meningitis patients who had not been diagnosed with a meningitis-associated disability at age 5.

No association was observed between the age at which meningitis occurred and subsequent academic achievement.

"It is alarming that children who appeared to have escaped meningitis unscathed when assessed at age 5 did no better in their GCSE examinations than those with recognized disabilities," de Louvois and colleagues comment.

"This emphasizes the need not only for a full post-infection medical assessment but also for continuing educational support throughout the school years," they conclude.

SOURCE: Archives of Disease in Childhood, November 2007.