Epidemiological Profile of Meningitis Reports in Brazilian Regions between 2007 and 2015

Abstract

Abstract Meningitis is an inflammation that affects meninges of the nervous system and can cause severe sequelae, which makes it important to understand the epidemiological profile of the disease to aid in control policies. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological profile of meningitis in different Brazilian regions from 2007 to 2015. We did a descriptive observational study of all 184,868 reports of meningitis cases made by SUS in DATASUS between 2007 and 2015 in Brazil. It was observed that most case occurred in male and white persons. In general, the etiology was viral and bacterial. About 50% of the cases occurred in children up to 9 years old, but with higher lethality in the elderly. There was a nearly 40% drop in the number of notifications from 2007 to 2014, but with more lethality. We conclude that the decrease in cases is due to the success of control policies, but we need to keep our attention to the notifications due to the increase in lethality. Keyword: Meningitis, Public health, Neglected disease.