Application of nucleic acid detection of non-bacterial respiratory pathogens in children with respiratory tract infection / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the distribution characteristics and clinical significance of non-bacterial respiratory pathogens in children with respiratory tract infection.Methods:A total of 5 718 children with respiratory tract infection treated in outpatient, emergency and inpatient of Children′s Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from January to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.Pharyngeal swabs were collected and nucleic acids of 7 common non-bacterial respiratory pathogens were detected and analyzed by double amplification technique. Chi square test was used to compare the rates. Results:A total of 5 718 children were included in the study.At least one respiratory pathogen nucleic acid positive was detected in 1 835 cases (32.09%). A total of 98 children had mixed infection of more than 2 pathogens (1.71%), which were mainly Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) and parainfluenza virus (PIV). The positive rates of 7 respiratory pathogens from high to low were MP (12.31%), PIV (6.23%), RSV (6.14%), influenza A virus (4.62%), adenovirus (2.80%), influenza B virus (1.40%) and chlamydia pneumoniae (0.33%). The positive rate of pathogens in male patients was 32.07% (1 073/3 346 cases), which was 32.12% (762/2 372 cases) in female patients.There was no significant difference in the positive rate of pathogens between males and females ( χ2=0.002, P=0.964). The positive rate of MP infection in male patients was significantly lower than that in females (11.48% vs. 13.49%) ( χ2=5.217, P=0.022). The total positive rate of infection in the 6 to <12 years old group was the highest (42.41%). The total positive rate (44.93%) and mixed infection rate (3.33%) were significantly higher in the fourth quarter than those of the others (30.43% vs.27.31% vs.34.59% vs.44.93%, 1.23% vs.1.10% vs.1.40% vs.3.33%; χ2=110.971, 26.968, all P<0.001). The total positive rate of pathogen infection in the outpatient and emergency department was 41.74% (606/1 452 cases), which was significantly higher than that of hospitalized children (31.13%) (1 328/4 266 cases) ( χ2=54.438, P<0.001). Conclusions:Non-bacterial respiratory pathogens are important pathogens leading to respiratory tract infections in children, among which MP infection is the most prevalent.Timely and accurate detection of pathogens is helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory tract infection and avoiding the abuse of antibiotics.