ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES@#To study the consistency between nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in pathogen detection in children with pneumonia@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed on the data of pathogens detected in 533 children with pneumonia from February 2017 to March 2020. The paired McNemar's test was used to compare the difference in pathogen detection between NPA and BALF groups. The @*RESULTS@#NPA had a sensitivity of 28%, a specificity of 74%, a positive predictive value of 14%, and a negative predictive value of 91% in detecting bacteria, and a @*CONCLUSIONS@#There is poor consistency between NPA and BALF in the detection of bacteria and viruses, and clinicians should be cautious in diagnosing lower respiratory tract infection based on bacteria or viruses detected in NPA. There is moderate consistency between NPA and BALF in the detection of