Infections of the central nervous system in pediatric patients clinical epidemiological aspects

Abstract

Introduction: infections of the central nervous system constitute a health problem on the planet. Objective: to clinically epidemiologically characterize   children with central nervous system infections admitted to be Pepe Portilla Provincial Teaching Pediatric Hospital of Pinar del Río in the years 2020­2021. Method: observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. Universe 63 patients with diagnosis of central nervous system infection. A sample of 40 patients was selected through simple random sampling .Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results: meningoencephalitis of viral etiology predominated in 82,5 % of the sample, with ages from 11 to 13 years in 75 %. The male sex represented 67, 5 percent of the cases studied. Fever was identified in 97,5 % of patients as the most frequent symptom. Non­breastfeeding was found in 92,5 % of the patients as a risk factor associated with central nervous system infections. In 2020, epilepsy was reported in 12,5 % of patients as the most frequent complication and in 2021 it represented 20 %. The lethality of the infection was shown in 5 % of the cases in 2020 and in 2021 the fatal outcome occurred in 2,5 %. Conclusions: the important social impact of the central nervous system infections in pediatric patients was evidenced by their clinical evolution, fatal resolution or the presence of sequelae.