Detection of Respiratory Pathogens and Analysis of Clinical Characteristics in Pediatric Pneumonia
WANG Chengyun
DING Jie
LIU Lingzhen
WANG Huidan
LIU Qianqian
Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of pediatric pneumonia caused by different pathogens and analyze their relationship with disease severity.Methods A total of 634 children with pediatric pneumonia admitted to Nanjing Jiangning Hospital from December 2023 to February 2025 were selected.All children underwent respiratory pathogen testing.Based on pathogen detection results,patients were divided into bacterial pneumonia(BP)group(271 cases),viral pneumonia(VP)group(135 cases),and mycoplasma pneumonia(MP)group(228 cases).Clinical characteristics including symptoms,signs,laboratory parameters,and imaging findings were compared among the three groups.Patients were classified into mild(443 cases)and severe(191 cases)groups according to clinical pulmonary infection scores.Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze factors influencing disease severity.Results The age in the MP group was higher than that in the BP group and the VP group(P<0.05);the proportions of acute onset and high fever in the BP group were higher compared to the VP group and the MP group(P<0.05).White blood cell count(WBC),procalcitonin(PCT),and C-reactive protein(CRP)levels were higher in the BP group than those in the VP group and the MP group(P<0.05).The detection rates of pulmonary parenchymal changes,consolidation shadows,air bronchogram signs,and multiple small nodular shadows in the BP group were higher compared with those in the VP group and the MP group(85.98%vs 8.89%,29.82%,P<0.05;66.79%vs 18.52%,27.63%,P<0.05;45.76%vs 17.04%,9.65%,P<0.05;40.96%vs 18.52%,7.89%,P<0.05);the detection rates of pulmonary interstitial changes and ground-glass shadows in the VP group were higher than those in the BP group and the MP group(90.37%vs 4.80%,47.81%,P<0.05;67.41%vs 31.73%,55.70%,P<0.05);the detection rate of pleural effusion was higher in the MP group compared to the BP group and the VP group(42.98%vs 14.76%,21.48%,P<0.05).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that PCT,CRP,consolidation shadows,and pleural effusion were independent influencing factors of disease severity in children with pneumonia(OR=1.115,95%CI:1.027-1.211,P<0.05;OR=1.119,95%CI:1.016-1.231,P<0.05;OR=2.849,95%CI:1.429-5.680,P<0.05;OR=2.824,95%CI:1.349-5.912,P<0.05).Conclusion Clinical symptoms,signs,CRP,PCT,WBC count,and imaging manifestations can effectively differentiate pediatric pneumonia caused by different pathogens.Additionally,CRP,PCT,and imaging signs such as consolidation shadows and pleural effusion are closely related to disease severity.
Keywords：pediatric pneumoniapathogensclinical characteristicsdisease severitymycoplasma infection
Publication Date：2025-09-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-09-29(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 5-10 )