MENINGITIS IN THE ELDERLY POPULATION IN BRAZIL: NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Background: With advancing age, the physiological changes grow increasingly worse, favoring the severity of possible infections in older adults. People older than 60 years are constantly subject to underlying diseases with associated symptoms, which may be mistaken for those of meningitis. Objective: To present scientific evidence, based on a narrative literature review, of meningitis in the older Brazilian population. Methods: The articles were searched in the SciELO, LILACS, MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, BIREME, and Web of Science databases, besides a search for gray literature in Google Scholar. The studies were selected with a combination based on the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), conducted according to the PRISMA recommendations (2015). The quality of the studies included in the research scored 6 points or more, as assessed with the qualitative grading protocol proposed by Pithon et al. (2015). Results: The predominance of non-10 valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) serotypes stands out in the invasive pneumococcal disease in the older population in strains circulating three to five years after the PCV10 was introduced in Brazil. A long interval between the onset of symptoms and the diagnosis of the disease indicates a worsened prognosis and increased lethality in the older Brazilian population. Conclusion: Meningitis in the older population is associated with greater diagnostic difficulty, neurologic severity, clinical complications, and increased mortality