cortisol levels exhibited no momentous variations between bacterial and non-bacterial neonatal meningitis in spite of affecting the outcome

Background: neonatal bacterial meningitis and its complications are considerably recuperated by adjunctive treatment with corticosteroids. however, in those neonates, the cortisol level is not well recognized. the aim of this study was to investigate cortisol levels in neonates with bacterial meningitis and comparing the outcomes with those without bacterial meningitis. methods: in the study, thirty consecutive neonates with bacterial meningitis were used and a group of 30 neonates with non- bacterial meningitis were considered for comparison. results: regarding serum cortisol (µg/dl), no statistically significant difference was found in bacterial (9.9 ± 0.4) and non-bacterial meningitis (10.3 ± 1.3) neonates (p = 0.112), but neonates with lower level of cortisol had a poor outcome. conclusions: cortisol levels showed no significant differences between bacterial and non-bacterial meningitis but it affected the outcome.