Aronson S M, DeBuono B A, Buechner J S
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
R I Med J (1976). 1991 Jan;74(1):33-6.
There were 667 recorded cases of bacterial meningitis in the hospitals of Rhode Island during the ten year interval of 1976 to 1985 yielding an average annual incidence rate of 6.9 cases per 100,000 population, and a case fatality rate of 10.3%. These rates are similar to those generated in other retrospective surveys in the United States. This survey corroborates the well-established observation that bacterial meningitis is largely a disease of early childhood. But these data also suggest that meningitis in the very elderly is more common than had previously been assumed. Many of the elderly cases in this series, particularly those caused by the coliform organisms, followed shortly after body trauma or appeared in individuals burdened by disseminated cancer or diabetes mellitus.
在1976年至1985年的十年间，罗德岛各医院共记录了667例细菌性脑膜炎病例，平均年发病率为每10万人6.9例，病死率为10.3%。这些发病率与美国其他回顾性调查得出的发病率相似。这项调查证实了一个早已确立的观察结果，即细菌性脑膜炎主要是一种幼儿疾病。但这些数据也表明，老年人群中的脑膜炎比之前认为的更为常见。该系列中的许多老年病例，尤其是由大肠菌群引起的病例，在身体创伤后不久发生，或者出现在患有播散性癌症或糖尿病的患者中。
