Clinical characteristics of patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection

Objective: To describe the characteristics of patients diagnosed with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. Methods: A retrospective study of clinical and epidemiological characteristics of acute infections by M. pneumoniae confirmed by PCR was carried out in the Navarra Health Service (Spain) in 2014-2018. Results: M. pneumoniae infection was confirmed in 9.5% of analyzed patients. Among 123 confirmed cases, 65% were 5-14 years old, 21.1% <5 years old, and 13.8% were >= 14 years old. Pneumonia was radiologically confirmed in 83.7% of cases, and 22.0% presented extra-respiratory manifestations. A total of 44.7% of cases required hospitalization. Bilateral pneumonia, asthmatic crisis and extra-respiratory manifestations were associated to higher risk of hospitalization (81.3, 72.2 and 66.7%, respectively). Microbiological targeted treatment was monotherapy with macrolides in 60.2% of cases and combined with other antibiotics in 13.0%. Conclusion: M. pneumoniae was the cause of acute respiratory infection affecting mainly to children younger than 14 years old and frequently required hospitalization. (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Espaila, S.L.U. on behalf of Sociedad Espailola de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiologia Clinica.