Eight hundred and seventy-five cases of bacterial meningitis. Part I of a three-part series: clinical data, prognosis, and the role of specialised hospital departments.

Between 1966 and 1976, 875 patients with bacterial meningitis were treated at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Rigshospitalet. Among 495 patients admitted directly to the department, fatality rates were 0.4 per cent for meningococcal infections (including septicaemia), 3.7 per cent for haemophilus meningitis and 8.7 per cent for pneumococcal meningitis. The total fatality rate for directly admitted patients was 3.8 per cent, and 4.0 per cent had sequelae on discharge. Patients transferred from other hospitals often had complications, and their fatality rate (20.1 per cent) was markedly higher than that for directly admitted patients, but not significantly higher than that for patients treated elsewhere in Denmark (17.6 per cent). The low fatality at a specialised unit may reflect an open and swift admission procedure and the preparedness of staff familiar with the management of meningitis. During the first five years after discharge, the relative death risk was increased among meningitis patients but later declined to that found in the general population.