Prognostic factors for tuberculous meningoencephalitis lethality

In order to describe the lethality predictors of patients with tuberculous meningoencephalitis, records of 231 patients were analysed. Ages ranged from less than I year to 68 years. Ninety-seven patients (42%) were four years old or less. Apart from 73.2% of patients whose diagnosis was performed by clinical and epidemiologic criteria associated with response to specific therapy, 26.8% had diagnostic confirmation through cerebrospinal fluid (culture, bacilloscopy, PCR) or necropsy. The lethality predictors were: less than 4 years of age, seizures, and severe alterations of consciousness.