OBJECTIVE To analyze the clinical characteristics and the correlation between laboratory indicators and prognosis of severe Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (SMPP) in children.

METHODS A total of 85 children with SMPP admitted to Anhui Provincial Children′s Hospital from Nov. 2021 to May 2024 were selected as the study subjects. Based on clinical typing at admission, they were divided into a high-risk group (n=59) and a low-risk group (n=26). The clinical manifestations, laboratory indicators and outcomes at 28 days of treatment were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS The duration of fever and cough before admission in the high-risk group was (7.17±1.09) days and (6.79±1.25) days, respectively, which was longer than that in the low-risk group (P < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in pulmonary auscultation (wheezing rales, moist rales) and extrapulmonary complications between the two groups. The levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), platelets (PLT), fibrinogen (FIB), D-dimer (DD) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in the high-risk group were (11.62±1.45) mg/L, (226.88±36.83) mg/L, (318.57±39.82) ×10⁹/L, (4.28±0.74) g/L, (0.81±0.12) μg/ml and (2 295.48±413.75) pg/ml, respectively, all of which were higher than those in the low-risk group (P < 0.05). Within 28 days after treatment of children in both groups, one patient in the high-risk group died.

CONCLUSIONS Compared with children with SMPP in the low-risk group, those in the high-risk group have a higher risk of prognostic mortality, suggesting a correlation between the children′s blood CRP, SAA, PLT, FIB, DD and NT-proBNP levels and the prognosis of children with SMPP.