TY - JOUR T1 - Hearing loss after bacterial meningitis is predicted by presenting status and young age; effectiveness of adjuvant dexamethasone or glycerol unclear JF - Evidence Based Medicine JO - Evid Based Med SP - 39 LP - 40 DO - 10.1136/ebm1032 VL - 15 IS - 2 AU - Diederik van de Beek AU - Matthijs C Brouwer Y1 - 2010/04/01 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/15/2/39.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Peltola H, Roine I, Fernández J, et al. Hearing impairment in childhood bacterial meningitis is little relieved by dexamethasone or glycerol. Pediatrics 2010;125:e1–8.OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text Bacterial meningitis is a severe infection of the central nervous system.1 Transient or permanent deafness, or other neurological sequelae, arise in up to one third of survivors.2 3 A meta-analysis on outcome in bacterial meningitis including 19 studies with 4920 children showed that hearing impairment occurs in 11% and that this rate varies with the causative organism.4In 2007, results were reported from a prospective randomised controlled trial in children aged from 2 months to 16 years from Latin America comparing the effect of adjunctive intravenous dexamethasone or oral glycerol in a factorial design.5 Although results showed that oral glycerol prevented severe neurological sequelae, the study was controversial because of several methodological flaws.6 A 2×2 design … ER -