The objective of this paper was to investigate the relationship between T-lymphocytes and respiratory tract infection in children. A meta-analysis was performed of studies related to virus-infected respiratory illnesses in children, and the change in the ratio of their T-lymphocyte subsets CD4+/CD8+. A systematic literature review was performed using MEDLINE (through PubMed), CINAHL (via Ebsco), Scopus, and Web of Science, for studies describing change in T-lymphocyte levels in children suffering from acute respiratory illnesses. Studies were included as per the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes and Study (PICOS) criteria, and relevant event data were extracted. A risk of publication bias and a risk of bias assessment were performed, and a funnel plot was designed using RevMan software. A column histogram was designed to compare the adverse effects. A total of 12 studies from the years 2000-2022 were included in the meta-analysis, containing information about 1111 patients. The current meta-analysis has a low risk of publication bias with the Egger's test p-value being 0.583 (p > 0.05) and the Begg's test p-value being 0.772 (p > 0.05). The odds ratio (OR) value was 3.66 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.08-12.43), the risk ratio (RR) value was 1.91 (95% CI: 1.07-3.40) and the significance level was p < 0.05, which indicates that an alteration in T-lymphocyte levels occurs in respiratory infections. T-lymphocyte levels are altered during infection, and the association between T-lymphocytes and respiratory diseases in children was investigated in this study. Based on statistically significant data (p < 0.05), we concluded that T-lymphocyte levels are adjusted in the event of viral respiratory sickness in children to alleviate the infection.
Keywords: COVID-19; T-lymphocyte subsets CD4+; T-lymphocytes; respiratory illnesses among children; respiratory tract infections.