Management of suspected paediatric meningitis: a multicentre prospective cohort study

To quantify delays during management of children with suspected meningitis.Multicentre prospective cohort study.Three UK tertiary paediatric centres; June 2011-June 2012 PATIENTS: 388 children aged <16 years hospitalised with suspected meningitis or undergoing lumbar puncture (LP) during sepsis evaluation.Time of prehospital and in-hospital assessments, LP, antibiotic treatment and discharge; types of prehospital medical assessment and microbiological results. Data collected from hospital records and parental interview.220/388 (57%) children were seen by a medical professional prehospitalisation (143 by a general practitioner). Median times from initial hospital assessment to LP and antibiotic administration were 4.8 hours and 3.1 hours, respectively; 62% of children had their LP after antibiotic treatment. Median time to LP was shorter for children aged <3 months (3.0 hours) than those aged 3-23 months (6.2 hours, P<0.001) or age ≥2 years (20.3 hours, P