Assessing children's memory and learning ability following hospital admission with septicaemia and meningitis.
Current research
- Imperial College, London, UK
- Researchers:
Dr Lorraine Als, Dr Simon Nadel, Prof Elena Garralda
- Start Date: 01 January 2007
- Type: Lay summary
- View scientific version
Most children are expected to recover from severe infections including meningitis with few obvious medical or neurological after effects. Cognitive and behavioural problems are well-established after meningitis in infancy, but far less is known about the outcome of children who become ill in later childhood. These researchers have conducted preliminary studies, partly funded by the Foundation, that documented memory and learning problems in older children after admission to paediatric intensive care (PICU), and memory defects in children after severe infection. These were associated with emotional/behavioural problems that could potentially damage a child's academic and psycho-social functioning. This study aims to confirm and clarify these problems in a larger group of school-aged children a few months after treatment on PICU and high dependency units for meningitis and septicaemia. The researchers will compare performance of these children on special neuro-cognitive tests, with the performance of children admitted to the same units with non-infectious conditions and with healthy children. They will examine how neuropsychological problems they discover affect academic performance, whether they are linked to aspects of the child's illness (for example shock and brain damage) and/or emotional and behavioural problems after discharge (ascertained through questionnaires and interviews). Children will be re-tested 1 year after hospital discharge to establish whether problems persist over time. The tests used in this research can potentially be used in routine clinical practice to help identify difficulties in survivors of meningitis and other severe infections, with the aim of reducing educational and psycho-social distress.
This project was featured in the Autumn 2007 edition of our newsletter, Microscope. Click to view.
This project was featured in the Edition Two 2008 of our newsletter, Microscope. Click to view.