Work

Analysis of early haematological warning indicators for drug-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Objective This study aimed to investigate the haematological changes in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) infection carrying the 2063/2064 mutation, providing a clinical reference for the early identification of drug-resistant MP. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 161 children diagnosed with MP infection via nucleic acid testing in our hospital in 2024, alongside 27 healthy controls. Based on the 2063/2064 mutation status, the MP group was divided into a mutation-undetected group ( n = 27) and a mutation-detected group ( n = 134). Haematological parameters and inflammatory indices at diagnosis were compared. Dynamic changes between the initial visit and diagnosis were analysed in 64 mutation-detected patients with complete paired data. Additional analyses included bootstrap resampling, post-hoc power assessment, exploratory ROC analysis, logistic regression and hospitalisation-stratified sensitivity analysis. Results No significant differences were observed between the mutation-detected and mutation-undetected groups in clinical characteristics or haematological and inflammatory indices at diagnosis (all p > 0.05). Among the 64 mutation-detected patients with complete paired measurements, MLR decreased from 0.32 (0.24, 0.48) at the initial visit to 0.27 (0.19, 0.37) at diagnosis ( p = 0.004). In the hospitalisation-stratified analysis, this decline was significant among hospitalised patients but not among non-hospitalised patients. Exploratory ROC analysis showed limited discriminatory performance for both the directional MLR change (AUC = 0.508, 95% CI 0.344–0.672) and its absolute magnitude (AUC = 0.523, 95% CI 0.349–0.699). Conclusion Static haematological parameters and inflammatory indices did not distinguish mutation-detected from mutation-undetected MP infection. Although MLR decreased over time in the mutation-detected subgroup, ROC and stratified analyses showed that this change had limited discriminatory performance when used alone and may have been influenced by hospitalisation-related clinical factors. Dynamic MLR change should therefore be considered an exploratory marker requiring prospective validation.

Source: Frontiers in Pediatrics

DOI: 10.3389/fped.2026.1854263

Authors: Yuanyuan Yang, Tao Sun, Changyu Fu, Xiaofang Yan

Institution: The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (Suzhou Dushu Lake Hospital)

Language: English

Topic: Microbial infections and disease research

Subfield: Microbiology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,801