Why read this summary?

Despite the successful introduction of immunisation with meningococcal group C conjugate vaccine in 1999,1 invasive meningococcal disease continues to cause substantial morbidity and mortality.2 Most deaths occur in the first 24 hours, often before specialist care starts. The challenge therefore is to identify those patients who will progress rapidly from non-specific early presentation to life threatening disease.3

Major changes to the organisation of health care in the United Kingdom, particularly in the provision of resuscitation and paediatric intensive care, have been associated with dramatically improved outcomes over recent decades.4 5 However, lack of high quality evidence to inform changes in clinical practice has been a particular challenge in developing this evidence based guideline. This article summarises the most recent guidance from the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) on the management of invasive meningococcal disease in children and young people.6

Recommendations

SIGN recommendations are based on systematic reviews of best available evidence. The strength of the evidence is graded as A, B, C, or D (fig 1⇓), but the grading does not reflect the clinical importance of the recommendations. Recommended best practice (“good practice points”), based on the clinical experience of the guideline development group, is also indicated (as GPP).