Incidence of tuberculosis meningitis in a high HIV prevalence setting: time-series analysis from 2006 to 2011

SETTING: This study was undertaken at a tertiary hospital in Soweto, a peri-urban low-middle income setting. Mycobacterium tuberculosis meningitis (TBM) is a severe manifestation of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. OBJECTIVE: To describe the incidence, mortality and clinical features of TBM in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected and non-infected children in South Africa from 2006 to 2011. DESIGN: A retrospective, cross-sectional descriptive study. METHODS: Electronic databases and individual patient records of all children with a discharge diagnosis of TBM were reviewed to yield incidence rate ratios (IRR) in HIV-infected and non-infected children. Clinical, laboratory and radiological characteristics were compared between HIV-infected and non-infected children with TBM. RESULTS: Overall TBM incidence per 100 000 population in 2006 was 6.9 (95%CI 4.4-10.3) and 9.8 (95%CI 6.9-13.6) in 2009, but had subsequently declined to 3.1 (95%CI 1.6-5.5) by 2011. There was a significant reduction in the IRR of TBM among HIV-infected children (IRR 0.916, P=0.036). The overall case fatality ratio was 6.7%. Clinical features, cerebrospinal fluid and computed tomography brain findings were similar in HIV-infected and non-infected children. CONCLUSION: TBM incidence decreased over the study period from 2006 to 2011, and was temporally associated with an increase in the uptake of antiretroviral treatment in HIV-infected individuals.