Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To study the value of absolute counts of lymphocyte subsets in the early prediction of refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (RMPP) in children. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 244 children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP). Among these children, 166 had MPP, and 58 had RMPP. The two groups were compared in terms of clinical features and laboratory markers such as lymphocyte subsets, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin and immunoglobulin E (IgE). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the specific indices for predicting RMMP. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the two groups in the absolute counts of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD19(+), and CD56(+) lymphocytes and the serum levels of lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, and IgE (P<0.05). The ROC curve analysis showed that the absolute counts of CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD19(+) lymphocytes had an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.866, 0.900 and 0.842 respectively in the differential diagnosis of RMPP and MPP, with a sensitivity of 86%, 90% and 82% respectively and a specificity of 75%, 70% and 80% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The absolute counts of CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD19(+) lymphocytes can be used to predict RMPP in children.