Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the etiology and characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia among children requiring bronchoalveolar lavage in northern China

Abstract

Background: To investigate the etiology and clinical characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) among children requiring bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and analyze the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the pathogen spectrum and clinical manifestations. Methods: Children <14 years old hospitalized with CAP requiring BLA were enrolled between February 2019 to January 2020 and August 2021 to July 2022. Multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (mRT-PCR) was used for pathogen detection. The demographic and clinical characteristics were compared between different pathogen-type infection groups, and before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Pathogen was detected in 91.66% (1363/1487) children. Mycoplasma pneumoniae, adenovirus and human rhinovirus were the most frequently detected pathogens. The frequency of detection of virus infections and co-infections was decreased during the pandemic, but the detection of atypical bacterial infections was increased. The clinical manifestations and the results of CT scans and fiberoptic bronchoscopy showed a significant difference between different types of pathogen infection, and lung inflammation was reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before the pandemic. Conclusions:  M. pneumoniae infection might be the greatest pediatric disease burden leading to CAP in northern China. Wearing masks and social distancing in public places during the COVID-19 pandemic effectively reduced the transmission of respiratory viruses, but it did not reduce the infection rate of M. pneumoniae. In addition, these interventions significantly reduced lung inflammation in children compared with before the pandemic.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This work was supported by the Health Commission of Shandong Province (<grant number 202006010928> [to <Ruihan Liu>]), Key research and development plan in Jining City (<grant number 2021YXNS068> [to <Yuyan Zhang>]), Research Fund for Academician Lin He New Medicine in Jining Medical University (<grant numbers JYHL2018FMS05> [to <Ruihan Liu>]), Jining Medical University (<grant numbers JYP2019KJ32> [to <Jun Ning>]) and the Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University (<grant number 2018-BS-004> [to <Ruihan Liu>]).

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This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University (No.: 2020C076).

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Data Availability

All relevant data are within the manuscript.

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