Clinical analysis of psychiatric symptoms of Japanese encephalitis during the convalescent Period: A single center study in Chongqing, China.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to analyze clinical and imaging features of children with severe Japanese encephalitis (JE), and to analyze causes and solutions for psychiatric symptoms of JE during the convalescent period.

METHODS: We analyzed clinical information for 78 children with severe JE at the Department of Neurology, Department of Infection, and Department of Rehabilitation in our hospital during 2014-2016. Seventy-eight cases of severe JE were divided into patients with psychiatric symptoms and no psychiatric symptoms groups. We focused on analysis of the patients with psychiatric symptoms group.

RESULTS: The incidence of psychiatric symptoms during the convalescent period was 46.15% (36/78). Antipsychotic drugs can effectively control psychiatric symptoms and shorten duration of symptoms. Seventy-one patients underwent reexamination with a head MRI. Of these, 8 cases (8/36 = 22.22%) in patients with psychiatric symptoms group showed new lesions in the basal ganglia, insula, and hippocampus. During the 12-month follow-up, two cases showed reappearance of psychiatric symptoms that had been relieved previously.

CONCLUSION: This study found that severe JE cases revealed a considerable proportion with psychiatric symptoms during the convalescent period.