Introduction:

Tuberculosis in Mexico remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality; in the last four years, 110,681 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and 1,571 cases of tuberculous meningitis were reported.

Objective:

To determine the neurocognitive sequelae, clinical presentation and neuroimaging alterations in patients with central nervous system tuberculosis.

Methods:

A retrospective, analytical, cross-sectional study was carried out from 2010 to 2019. Patients with central nervous system tuberculosis, with and without HIV/AIDS coinfection, were included.

Results:

During the study period, 104 cases with a definitive or probable central nervous system tuberculosis diagnosis were included; according to the Marais criteria, 38 % had HIV/AIDS coinfection, and 55 %, various comorbidities (p = 0.0001); 49 % had cognitive alterations, and 14 % died.

Conclusions:

Although HIV/AIDS infection can contribute to cognitive decline in patients with tuberculous meningitis, no differences were observed between patients with and without HIV/AIDS. Cognitive sequelae showed improvement during follow-up with adequate management and therapeutic control of the patients.