Perfil epidemiológico e clínico das meningites infecciosas em idosos, no Hospital de Doenças Tropicais – HDT/AA Goiânia, Goiás, Brasil, 2000 - 2006

• Ano de defesa: 2008
• Autor(a) principal: Alvarenga, José Alberto
• Orientador(a): Almeida Neto, Joaquim Caetano de
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Goiás
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Programa de Pós-graduação em Medicina Tropical e Saúde Publica (IPTSP)
• Departamento: Instituto de Patologia Tropical e Saúde Pública - IPTSP (RG)
• País: Brasil
• Palavras-chave em Português: Meningite Infecciosa; Idosos; Epidemiologia; Hospital de doenças tropicais; Doenças Infecciosas
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Infectious meningitis; Elderly; Epidemiology
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CLINICA MEDICA::DOENCAS INFECCIOSAS E PARASITARIAS
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/3383

It is estimated that until the year 2020, in Brazil, 13 % of the population will be constituted by the elderly (population who are above 60 years old), counting 30 million people. The frequency and the gravity of the infectious diseases spread with age. Among these days, infectious diseases are the third cause of death after the sixty’s. The physical changes and the lack of immunological response in the elderly worsen day after day, favoring the infections’ gravity. Moreover, chronic diseases treated with immunosuppressor drugs and other, repeated hospitalizations and nutritional deficiency are addictive factors which explain this kind of diseases to grow worse in this specific population. This dissertation is about a retrospective essay with a descriptive analysis raising medical documents from patients with infectious meningitis in the Hospital de Doenças Tropicais (HDT), State of Goiás, Brazil, and aimed to evaluate the epidemiologic and clinical profile of the infectious meningitis in the elderly, the level of clinical suspicion and confirmation in health services in our State. About 110 cases of meningitis in elderly were notified between the years 2000 and 2006. From all cases, 64 (58,71%) were confirmed, 64,0% of non-specified infection meningitis, 14,06%, fungus meningitis (4,68%), pneumococcol meningitis (12,5%), tuberculosis meningitis (3,12%) and meningococcal meningitis(1,5%). The mortality was higher in non-specified meningitis (65,21%), and fungus, tuberculosis and pneumococcol meningitis presented the highest lethality. The long period between the clinical suspicion of meningitis, with 6,41 days until the diagnose was confirmed, delayed treatment and surely contributed to raise the number of the infections and deaths. The unsuitable medical graduation in elderly’s support has delayed diagnose, extending the interval between the beginning of the symptoms and the effective treatment, and so on, increasing the mortality index of this population. The proposal of this essay is to build a preferable attendance service for the elderly, with basic knowledge in infectious diseases in this particular population, favoring the fast diagnose and the effective treatment in order to reduce the mortality in this age group.