Li Linlin, Guo Jing, Chen Jielin, Zhao Jiangyang, Liang Jiahui, Liu Minxue
Medical Science Laboratory, Children's Hospital, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China.
Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Children's Hospital, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China.
Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2025 Aug 28;15:1652949. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1652949. eCollection 2025.
Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), including bronchitis and pneumonia, are common pediatric conditions. Accurate and timely pathogen identification is essential in this population, with targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) significantly improving detection rates. This study aimed to systematically assess the clinical utility of tNGS in identifying pathogens in pediatric LRTIs.
A retrospective analysis of 107 pediatric patients with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) was conducted between January 2024 and December 2024. The concordance of tNGS, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and microbial culture results with clinical diagnoses was assessed. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), with statistical significance set at < 0.05.
Of the 107 pediatric patients, 34 (31.8%) had single-pathogen infections while 73 (68.2%) had multiple infections, with bacterial-viral co-infections comprising 42.5% of the latter group. The tNGS results demonstrated a concordance rate of over 66% with clinical diagnoses, which was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than that of qPCR and culture. The analysis revealed 80% concordance between tNGS and qPCR results. Notably, tNGS demonstrated 90% concordance with culture methods in approximately 70% of comparative detections. Furthermore, for and , the RPM values for tNGS were significantly higher (P<0.05) in (tNGS+qPCR+) samples than in (tNGS+qPCR-) samples. Compared with (AUC=0.759), e exhibited stronger discriminatory power (AUC=0.917).
The tNGS results demonstrated high concordance with the clinical diagnosis, supporting its high applicability in diagnosing pathogens in pediatric patients with severe, mixed, or refractory infections.
下呼吸道感染（LRTIs），包括支气管炎和肺炎，是常见的儿科疾病。在这一人群中，准确及时地识别病原体至关重要，靶向新一代测序（tNGS）显著提高了检测率。本研究旨在系统评估tNGS在识别儿科LRTIs病原体中的临床应用价值。
对2024年1月至2024年12月期间107例儿科下呼吸道感染（LRTIs）患者进行回顾性分析。评估tNGS、定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）和微生物培养结果与临床诊断的一致性。使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）进行数据分析，统计学显著性设定为<0.05。
107例儿科患者中，34例（31.8%）为单病原体感染，73例（68.2%）为多重感染，其中细菌-病毒混合感染占后者的42.5%。tNGS结果与临床诊断的一致性率超过66%，显著高于qPCR和培养（P<0.001）。分析显示tNGS与qPCR结果的一致性为80%。值得注意的是，在约70%的比较检测中，tNGS与培养方法的一致性为90%。此外，对于[具体内容缺失]和[具体内容缺失]，tNGS在（tNGS+qPCR+）样本中的RPM值显著高于（tNGS+qPCR-）样本（P<0.05）。与[具体内容缺失]（AUC=0.759）相比，[具体内容缺失]e表现出更强的鉴别能力（AUC=0.917）。
tNGS结果与临床诊断高度一致，支持其在诊断患有严重、混合或难治性感染的儿科患者病原体方面的高适用性。
