The role of adjunctive dexamethasone in the treatment of bacterial meningitis: an updated systematic meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Bacterial meningitis is a serious infection in children and adults worldwide, with considerable morbidity, mortality, and severe neurological sequelae. Dexamethasone is often used before antibiotics in cases of this disease, and improves outcomes. OBJECTIVE: Although several studies have identified the role of adjunctive dexamethasone therapy in the treatment of bacterial meningitis, the results are still inconclusive. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the therapeutic and adverse effect of adjunctive dexa-methasone in patients with bacterial meningitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of dexamethasone in bacterial meningitis published between 2000 and 2016 were retrieved from the common electronic databases. The odds ratio (OR) and risk ratio (RR) with their 95% confidence interval (CI) were employed to calculate the effect. RESULTS: A total of ten articles including 2,459 bacterial meningitis patients (1,245 in the dex-amethasone group and 1,214 in the placebo group) were included in this meta-analysis. Our result found that dexamethasone was not associated with a significant reduction in follow-up mortality (292 of 1,245 on dexamethasone versus 314 of 1,214 on placebo; OR =0.91, 95% CI =0.80–1.03, P=0.14) and severe neurological sequelae (22.4% versus 24.1%, OR =0.84, 95% CI =0.54–1.29, P=0.42). However, dexamethasone seemed to reduce hearing loss among survivors (21.2% versus 26.1%; OR =0.76, 95% CI =0.59–0.98, P=0.03). No significant difference was found between these two groups in adverse events. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that adjunctive dexamethasone might not be beneficial in the treatment of bacterial meningitis. Future studies with more data are needed to further prove the role of dexamethasone in bacterial meningitis.