FREQUENCY OF HYPONATREMIA IN TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS

ABSTRACT
Introduction: Tuberculous meningitis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an extremely devastating manifestation
of tuberculosis, which was universally fatal in the age before anti tuberculous therapy.TBM accounts for around 1% of
all cases of tuberculosis, carries a high mortality and a distressing level of neurological morbidity.
Objective: To determine the frequency of hyponatremia in tuberculous meningitis
Methodology: This study was conducted at Department of Medicine, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar. The study is
a descriptive cross sectional study and the duration of the study was one year from 10th October 2016 to 10th October
2017, in which a total of 196 patients were observed. All cases of tuberculous meningitis and CSF routine examination
of both genders and age range 15 to 60 years were included. All diagnosed cases of tuberculous meningitis were
screened for hyponatremia from day of admission to the day of discharge and GCS plus other clinical parameters e.g.
headache, vomiting, confusion, impaired consciousness and seizure etc were recorded. All of the above mentioned
information including name, gender and presence or absence of hyponatremia was recorded in a predesigned proforma.
Results: In this study, mean age was 48 ± 2.16 years. Forty two percent patients were male and 58% patients were
female. Moreover, 52% patients had hyponatremia while 48% patients didn’t have hyponatremia.
Conclusion: Tuberculous meningitis is a frequently reported problem in our part of the world. Hyponatremia is one of
the common complications. All patients should be assessed for the presence of risk factors affecting mortality of the
disease.
Key Words: Frequency, hyponatremia, tuberculous meningitis