• Metehan Ozen, Güler Kanra, Ateş Kara, Ahmet Ataş, Gülten Seçmeer, Mehmet Ceyhan, A Bülent Cengiz, and Erol Belgin.
• Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
• Turkish J Pediatr. 2008 Jan 1;50(1):23-9.

AbstractControlled trials concerning adjuvant dexamethasone therapy in bacterial meningitis do not point unequivocally to a beneficial effect on hearing ability. We investigated the remote adverse outcomes of pneumococcal meningitis and, if any, beneficial effects of adjuvant dexamethasone therapy on hearing ability. Fifty-five subjects who experienced pneumococcal meningitis between 1987-97 were divided into two groups as 25 subjects who did not receive dexamethasone (Group 1) and the remaining 30 subjects who did (Group 2). All subjects underwent pure tone thresholds estimation. There were a total of 11 subjects (20%) with sensorineural hearing impairment (SNHI): 6 in the first group (24%) and 5 in the second group (16%). Although there was no statistically significant difference in the SNHI ratio between the groups, all the subjects who used adjuvant dexamethasone therapy suffered only minimal-borderline SNHI, whereas 2 patients in Group 1 had moderate-serious SNHI. Even though adjuvant dexamethasone therapy had no statistically significant impact on hearing ability after long-term follow-up, its use may be a good choice in terms of preventing serious SNHI.

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