Background: As Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) is on the rise in children and adolescents, this work explored the clinical analysis of epidemiological and inflammatory changes in children with MPP during the acute and convalescent phases, and analyzed their relationship with clinical manifestations.
Methods: One hundred and twenty MP patients (experimental group) and 100 healthy children (control group) were selected as the research objects. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the changes in tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and procalcitonin (PCT).
Results: The proportion of children aged 3-7 years was significantly higher than that of other age groups (0-1, 1-3, and 7-14 years old) (P<0.05). The serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and PCT in children with MP were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). Changes in pulmonary fibrosis and serum and pleural fluid TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and PCT concentrations on chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) in children with MP with pleural effusion significantly higher than that in children without pulmonary fibrosis (P<0.05).
Conclusions: MPP was more common in children aged 3-7 years. In addition, the changes of inflammatory markers TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and PCT in serum and pleural effusion of children with MP were of great value for the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of the disease.
Keywords: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP); acute phase; inflammatory indicators; recovery phase.
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