OBJECTIVE To investigate the result of etiological test for the children with respiratory tract infection who were hospitalized in the pediatrics department of a hospital from 2011 to 2021.

METHODS A total of 11, 199 children who were hospitalized in pediatrics department of Xijing Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University due to acute respiratory tract infection from 2011 to 2021 were recruited as the study objects. The serum immunoglobulin(Ig) M antibodies of common respiratory tract pathogens were detected by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The incidence of the infection was observed and compared among the children with different genders, age and in different seasons.

RESULTS The total detection rate of six species of respiratory tract pathogens was 45.46%, the positive rate of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) was the highest (22.14%), followed by adenovirus (ADV) (10.54%), Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP) (4.69%), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (4.26%), parainfluenza virus (PIV) (3.53%) and influenza virus (IFV) (0.31%). The total incidence of mixed infection was 8.37%. The proportion of the children with the mixed infections of two species of pathogens was the highest (81.03%), among whom the children with mixed infection of MP plus ADV were dominant (28.07%). The children with the mixed infections of MP plus ADV plus CP were the most common among the children with mixed infections of three species of pathogens. The positive rates of the six species of pathogens were significantly higher among the female children than among the male children(P < 0.05). The total isolation rate of the six species of pathogens showed an upward trend with the growth of age, and there was significant difference among the age groups(P < 0.05). The incidence of MP infection was the highest (33.59%) among the children aged between 6 and 14 years old, the isolation rate of ADV was up to 33.03% among the children aged less than 6 years old, as compared with the children aged between 6 and 14 years old, there was significant difference(P < 0.05). The respiratory tract infection was the most prevalent in autumn and winter, followed by summer, with the lowest in spring, and there was significant difference among the four seasons(P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS MP and ADV are the major species of pathogens isolated from the hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infection, the mixed infection is very common, and the distribution is characterized by age, gender and season. It may play a positive role in diagnosis and treatment of the children with respiratory infectious diseases to understand the epidemiological characteristics of the respiratory tract pathogens.