International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | June 2023 | Vol 11 | Issue 6 Page 1914 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Ahmed K et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2023 Jun;11(6):1914-1918 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Clinical presentations among adult patients with tuberculous meningitis Kamal Ahmed 1 *, Md Mubin Uddin Akhanji 2 , Md Shahidul Islam 3 , K. M. Ahasan Ahmed 4 , Md Zakirul Islam 5 INTRODUCTION Tuberculosis (TB) is a global pandemic and is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. 1 It causes ill health for approximately 10 million people each year and is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide and the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease after HIV. 2,3 According to recent data, the disease causes approximately 9 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths each year. 1 TBM (tuberculous meningitis) is a particularly important public health issue in our country. Bangladesh is a country with a high burden of pulmonary as well as extrapulmonary tuberculosis. TB can affect various organs of the body, but it most commonly affects the lungs and is known as pulmonary TB. When TB affects other organs, it is recognized as extra-pulmonary TB. The majority of the pulmonary cases are pulmonary TB, while only 15-20% of cases are extrapulmonary 1 Department of Neurology, North East Medical College and Hospital, Sylhet, Bangladesh 2 Department of Psychiatry, M. A. G. Osmani Medical College, Sylhet, Bangladesh 3 Department of Medicine, Government Employee Hospital, Fulbaria, Dhaka, Bangladesh 4 Department of Neurology, National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh 5 Department of Medicine, Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh Received: 12 March 2023 Accepted: 09 May 2023 *Correspondence: Dr. Kamal Ahmed, E-mail: docdrkamal@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Bangladesh is a country with a high burden of pulmonary as well as extrapulmonary tuberculosis. TBM is a particularly important public health issue in our country. Identifying prognostic predictors would improve the quality of management and ultimately will prevent long-term mortality and morbidity. The aim of the study was to observe and identify the most common clinical presentations among patients with tuberculous meningitis. Methods: This hospital-based prospective cohort study was carried out at the in-patient Department of Clinical Neurology at the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital (NINS and H), Dhaka, Bangladesh from October 2016 to September 2017, 1 year. A total of 54 patients admitted to the hospital with features of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) were selected for the study following inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Over 70% of patients were adolescents or young adults with a mean age of 28.2±12.3 years. The majority (48.2%) of the participants were from TBM stage II, while 37% were from stage III of TBM. Fever, headache, and systematic symptoms were the most frequent clinical presentations. The median delay in treatment was 30 days. Interruption in anti-TB treatment was reported in 3 (9.3%) cases. Conclusions: The study found that among possible TBM cases, the most frequent clinical features were fever, headache, and systematic symptoms. Focal neurological deficit and cerebral nerve palsy also had a high prevalence among the participants. The majority of the participants were young adults and female prevalence was high in the present study. The majority were from stage II TB among the study participants. Keywords: Clinical presentations, Meningitis, Respiratory, Tuberculosis DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20231601