Maternal and perinatal factors associated with subsequent meningococcal, Haemophilus or enteroviral meningitis in children: database study

We used a database of 248659 births, with follow-up to subsequent disease, in the Oxford record linkage archive (1979-1999) to study the influence of family, maternal, and perinatal factors on subsequent hospital admission for meningococcal, Haemophilus, and enteroviral meningitis in the children. In this summary, we report key findings that were significant in multivariate analysis. Meningococcal meningitis was significantly associated with maternal smoking [odds ratio (OR) 2 center dot 1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1 center dot 2-3 center dot 7]. Haemophilus meningitis was associated with having older siblings (e.g. second child compared to first-born, OR 3 center dot 3, 95% CI 2 center dot 0-5 center dot 6). Enteroviral meningitis was associated with low birth weight (OR 2 center dot 2, 95% CI 1 center dot 3-3 center dot 6) and male sex (OR 1 center dot 7, 95% CI 1 center dot 2-2 center dot 3). The mothers of six of the 312 children with enteroviral meningitis had previously had enteroviral meningitis themselves. We concluded that several maternal characteristics influence the risk of these types of meningitis.