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The host response of COVID-19 and identification from other aetiologies of community-acquired pneumonia in children
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  • Yaping Ying,
  • Haiyan Lv,
  • Tianbin Tang,
  • Fang Zhou,
  • Yicheng Fang,
  • Bo Shen
Yaping Ying
Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Haiyan Lv
Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province
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Tianbin Tang
Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province
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Fang Zhou
Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province
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Yicheng Fang
Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province
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Bo Shen
Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province
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Abstract

Objectives: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) was a common respiratory tract infection in children, which can be caused by various pathogens, including bacteria, mycoplasma (MP), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and recently SARS-CoV-2 are the most widespread. We attempt to distinguish common and pathogen-specific host response characteristics by comparing the CAP of different pathogens. Methods: We included 200 CAP hospitalized cohort caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19, n=50), mycoplasma (CAP-MP, n=50), RSV (CAP-RSV, n=50) and other bacteria (CAP-Bacteria, n=50), of whom were balanced the potentially confounding factors (such as age and gender) based on Propensity Score Matching algorithm(PSM). We compared hematologic and biochemical indicators for different CAPs, samples were taken within 48 hours of admission. Results: Main clinical features of COVID-19 were fever, faster heart rate and lower antibiotic use. Notably, markers of immuno-inflammatory, including white blood cell, lymphocyte and procalcitonin (PCT) were not different among the CAP groups. Biomarkers reflecting nutrient metabolism showed total protein (TP) and albumin (ALB) levels in the COVID-19 group were lower than those in the CAP-MP group, the creatinine and urea levels of the COVID-19 patients were higher than that of CAP-MP group. The serum sodium and calcium levels in the COVID-19 group were the lowest and significantly lower than that in the CAP-MP group, while serum phosphorus levels were opposite. Moreover, we observed that the creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) levels in the COVID-19 were higher than those in the CAP-MP groups. Conclusions: Our study revealed common and unique pathophysiological features of different pathogensā€associated CAP, which may facilitate the pathogen-specific precision diagnosis and treatment.