BackgroundCommunity-acquired bacterial meningitis is a rare but severe central nervous system infection that may be associated with cerebrovascular complications (CVC). Our objective is to assess the prevalence of CVC in patients with community-acquired bacterial meningitis and to determine the first-48 h factors associated with CVC.MethodsWe analyzed data from the prospective multicenter cohort study (COMBAT) including, between February 2013 and July 2015, adults with community-acquired bacterial meningitis. CVC were defined by the presence of clinical or radiological signs (on cerebral CT or MRI) of focal clinical symptom. Factors associated with CVC were identified by multivariate logistic regression.ResultsCVC occurred in 128 (25.3%) of the 506 patients in the COMBAT cohort (78 (29.4%) of the 265 pneumococcal meningitis, 17 (15.3%) of the 111 meningococcal meningitis, and 29 (24.8%) of the 117 meningitis caused by other bacteria). The proportion of patients receiving adjunctive dexamethasone was not statistically different between patients with and without CVC (p = 0.84). In the multivariate analysis, advanced age (OR = 1.01 [1.00-1.03], p = 0.03), altered mental status at admission (OR = 2.23 [1.21–4.10], p = 0.01) and seizure during the first 48 h from admission (OR = 1.90 [1.01–3.52], p = 0.04) were independently associated with CVC.ConclusionsCVC were frequent during community-acquired bacterial meningitis and associated with advanced age, altered mental status and seizures occurring within 48 h from admission but not with adjunctive corticosteroids.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-023-08320-x.