The aim of this study is to describe the risk factors for bacterial meningitis in newborns, and to analyze the prevalence of these factors, considering or not the low birth weight presence. Fifty newborns with bacterial meningitis were analyzed, excluding the ones with meningomyelocele or congenital infection. In the statistical analysis, the Fisher's exact test was used, considering significant the p < 0.05 values. This study has shown that prematurity, low birth weight and presence of previous infectious diseases in the newborn or in the mother were important risk factors for meningitis. Among low birth weight newborns, invasive procedures, especially tracheal intubation, use of central venous catheter and previous use of antibiotics, were significantly associated to the meningitis occurrence. These results indicate that the improvement in the prenatal care and in the hospital infection control are measures of high importance in the decrease of the incidence of neonatal bacterial meningitis.
meningitis; newborn; risk factor; bacterial infection
