Epidemiological characteristics, clinical characteristics, and prognostic factors of children with atopy hospitalised with adenovirus pneumonia

Clinical features and prediction of risk factors for severe adenovirus pneumonia in children

Background

Adenoviral infections are most likely to invade the respiratory tract, and the clinical manifestations of the infections are varied; in severe cases, they may cause systemic multi-system damages and so on. At present, early clinical differential diagnosis is difficult under the existing testing methods, so it is important to analyze its clinical characteristics and risk factors for early identification of critical status and early and rational treatment.

Methods

The clinical data of 202 children with adenovirus pneumonia admitted to Tianjin Children's Hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the evaluation criteria for severe pneumonia, they were divided into a severe group (77 cases) and a non-severe group (125 cases). The clinical characteristics, complications, and laboratory data of the 2 groups were collected for statistical analysis, and then significant factors were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and binary logistic regression.

Results

Among the 202 children with adenovirus pneumonia, there were 108 males and 94 females. The children ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years. The duration of fever, incidence of wheezing, neutrophil ratio (NEUT%), and serum ferritin (SF) levels were significantly higher in the severe group than in the non-severe group (χ2/Z/P=-9.173/<0.001, 5.469/0.019, 5.831/<0.001, -3.845/<0.001). The incidences of liver injury, electrolyte disturbance, and coagulation dysfunction in the severe group were significantly higher than those in the non-severe group (χ2/Z/P=0.001/0.001, 28.208/0.001, 32.079/0.001). Logistic regression combined with ROC curve analysis suggested that fever duration >4.50 days, with wheezing, NEUT% ≥47.60, and SF ≥139.60 ng/mL were risk factors for developing severe adenovirus pneumonia in children [odds ratio (OR) (95% CI): 1.394 (1.230-1.581), 3.673 (1.246-10.828), 1.034 (1.001-1.067), 1.004 (1.001-1.008)].

Conclusions

Studies have shown that the fever associated with severe adenovirus pneumonia has a long duration, and that severe clinical manifestations and multiple complications, fever duration >4.50 days, wheezing, NEUT% ≥47.60, and SF ≥139.60 ng/mL are risk factors for severe adenovirus pneumonia.

Construction and Verification of a Predictive Model for Risk Factors in Children With Severe Adenoviral Pneumonia

OBJECTIVE

To construct and validate a predictive model for risk factors in children with severe adenoviral pneumonia based on chest low-dose CT imaging and clinical features.

METHODS

A total of 177 patients with adenoviral pneumonia who underwent low-dose CT examination were collected between January 2019 and August 2019. The assessment criteria for severe pneumonia were divided into mild group (N = 125) and severe group (N = 52). All cases divided into training cohort (N = 125) and validation cohort (N = 52). We constructed a prediction model by drawing a nomogram and verified the predictive efficacy of the model through the ROC curve, calibration curve and decision curve analysis.

RESULTS

The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05) between the mild adenovirus pneumonia group and the severe adenovirus pneumonia group in gender, age, weight, body temperature, L/N ratio, LDH, ALT, AST, CK-MB, ADV DNA, bronchial inflation sign, emphysema, ground glass sign, bronchial wall thickening, bronchiectasis, pleural effusion, consolidation score, and lobular inflammation score. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender, LDH value, emphysema, consolidation score, and lobular inflammation score were severe independent risk factors for adenovirus pneumonia in children. Logistic regression was employed to construct clinical model, imaging semantic feature model, and combined model. The AUC values of the training sets of the three models were 0.85 (0.77-0.94), 0.83 (0.75-0.91), and 0.91 (0.85-0.97). The AUC of the validation set was 0.77 (0.64-0.91), 0.83 (0.71-0.94), and 0.85 (0.73-0.96), respectively. The calibration curve fit good of the three models. The clinical decision curve analysis demonstrates the clinical application value of the nomogram prediction model.

CONCLUSION

The prediction model based on chest low-dose CT image characteristics and clinical characteristics has relatively clear predictive value in distinguishing mild adenovirus pneumonia from severe adenovirus pneumonia in children and might provide a new method for early clinical prediction of the outcome of adenovirus pneumonia in children.

Lactate dehydrogenase and the severity of adenoviral pneumonia in children: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Children with severe adenoviral pneumonia (ADVP) have poor prognosis and high risk of mortality. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between pretreatment lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and severity, postinfectious bronchiolitis obliterans (PIBO), and mortality in children with ADVP.

METHODS

Relevant observational studies were identified by search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Wanfang, and CNKI databases from inception to August 3, 2022. A random effect model was used to pool the results by incorporating the potential between-study heterogeneity.

RESULTS

Overall, 23 studies with 4,481 children with ADVP were included in this meta-analysis. Results of meta-analysis showed that children with severe ADVP had a significantly higher level of pretreatment LDH as compared to those with non-severe ADVP (standard mean difference [SMD]: 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.36 to 0.66, p < 0.001; I ² = 69%). Besides, pooled results also suggested that the pretreatment LDH was significantly higher in children who developed PIBO as compared to those who did not (SMD: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.09 to 0.84, p = 0.02, I ² = 80%). Finally, results of the meta-analysis also confirmed that a higher pretreatment LDH (>500 IU/L) was a risk factor of increased mortality during hospitalization (odds ratio: 3.10, 95% CI: 1.62 to 5.92, p < 0.001, I ² = 0%). Sensitivity analyses by excluding one dataset at a time showed consistent results.

CONCLUSION

High pretreatment LDH may be associated with disease severity, development of PIBO, and increased risk of mortality in children with ADVP.