Open AccessMeningitis: describing the community health problem.
Author(s) -
Michaelg . Skoch,
Anne Walling
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.75.5.550
Subject(s) - medicine , incidence (geometry) , case fatality rate , meningitis , population , pediatrics , demography , mortality rate , community health , public health , environmental health , surgery , pathology , physics , sociology , optics
We identified all 391 cases of meningitis hospitalized in a metropolitan community (population 367,094) over a four-year period to assess incidence, morbidity, and mortality. The crude incidence rate was 27 per 100,000 person years; the incidence rate for children under 5 years of age was 174 per 100,000 person years. The case fatality rate was 3 per cent. Bacterial organisms were identified in 33 per cent of all cases, with H. influenzae most commonly observed (53 per cent). Only 16 per cent of hospitalized cases were known to the county health department.