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. 2025 Feb;44(2):393-403.
doi: 10.1007/s10096-024-05014-3. Epub 2024 Dec 17.

Pulmonary embolism in children with mycoplasma pneumonia: can it be predicted?

Jiapu Hou  1   2 , Ruiyang Sun  1   2 , Xue Zhang  1   2 , Wanyu Jia  1   2 , Peng Li  1   2 , Chunlan Song  3   4
Affiliations

Pulmonary embolism in children with mycoplasma pneumonia: can it be predicted?

Jiapu Hou et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the clinical characteristics of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) pneumonia (MPP) combined with pulmonary embolism (PE) in children.

Methods: 291 hospitalized pediatric cases with MPP were enrolled from January 2018 to May 2024 and divided into the PE group (141 cases) and non-PE control group (150 cases). Clinical data of both groups were analyzed and compared.

Results: C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and interleukin 6 (IL-6) were significantly higher in the PE group than in the non-PE control group. There were 85 males and 56 females in the PE group. The PE group has male-to-female ratio of 3: 2,and hemoptysis was observed in 11 children (7.08%), chest pain in 29 children (20.60%), and pulmonary necrosis in 89 children (63.12%). In the receiver operator curve(ROC), the areas under the curve(AUC) for D-dimer, CRP, IL-6, and LDH were 0.964, 0.690, 0.632, and 0.765, respectively. In the ROC curve, the cutoff values for D-dimer, CRP, IL-6, and LDH were 0.8 µg/ml, 24.2 mg/L, 37.8 pg/ml, and 461 U/L, respectively.

Conclusion: A proportion of children with MP infection combined with PE show atypical clinical symptoms. Children with MPP and elevated D-dimer levels, IL-6, CRP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and LDH may be prone to develop PE.

Keywords: Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia; C-reactive protein; D-dimer; Interleukin 6; Lactate dehydrogenase; Pulmonary embolism.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Henan Children’s Hospital (2022-K-L046) (retrospectively registration). Due to the retrospective nature of the study, Institutional Review Board waived the need of obtaining informed consent. This research adheres to the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent to participate: The data used in this study have been obtained with the consent of the person concerned. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Consent for publication: The authors confirmed that human study participants provided informed consent for the release of the images in Figs. 1 and 2; Tables 1 and 2, and 3. Clinical trial number: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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