Clinical characteristics of human cytomegalovirus pneumonia in children and the diagnosis value of detecting human cytomegalovirus DNA in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid / 中国小儿急救医学

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical features, therapy and prognosis of human cytomegalovirus(HCMV)pneumonia in pediatric patients, and to analyze the diagnosis value of detecting HCMV DNA in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF)by real-time PCR.Methods:The clinical characteristics of 58 pediatric inpatients who were HCMV DNA positive in BALF were retrospectively reviewed.All the patients were from Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University from January 2015 to December 2019.Clinical, radiologic, laboratory and microbiologic data was collected for each patient.The study cohort was divided into HCMV productive infection and latent infection consisting of 22 and 36 patients respectively, based on the HCMV active infection in lung or not.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to assess utility of detecting HCMV DNA in BALF and establish a threshold for diagnosis.Results:(1)Compared with patients in latent infection group, the children in productive infection group had a lower age of onset( P<0.05), a higher proportion of male( P<0.05), and more prolonged hospitalization stay( P<0.05). Pulmonary rales, hypoxemia and higher AST, CK, LDH in serum were easier to detect in productive infection group( P<0.05). Higher HCMV DNA copies in BALF was also detected( P<0.01). Patients in productive infection group had significantly more exposure to additional oxygen treatment or mechanical ventilation and systemic hormone therapy( P<0.05), while with poorer outcomes( P<0.05). (2) ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC for HCMV DNA in BALF in diagnosis of HCMV pneumonia was 0.708 with a threshold of 8.83×10 3 copies/mL, a sensitivity of 77.27%, and a specificity of 58.33%. Conclusion:Those who are diagnosed HCMV pneumonia have a lower age of onset with higher male proportion.These children suffered severer clinical signs.The patients with HCMV DNA copies higher than 8.83×10 3 copies/mL in BALF would be more likely to be diagnosed as HCMV pneumonia.