Data from: Epidemiological relationship between Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia and recurrent wheezing episode in children: an observational study at a single hospital in Korea

Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate epidemiological and clinical
relationship between MP infection and childhood recurrent wheezing episode
(RWE). Design: Retrospective case note review. Setting: Paediatric
department at a single Korean institution. Participants: Consecutive
admitted patients with MP pneumonia and RWE (0-15 years of age) between
2003 and 2014. Methods: The retrospective medical records of patients with
MP pneumonia (n=793 for epidemiological analysis and n=501 for clinical
analysis) and those with RWE (n=384) from 2003 to 2014 were analyzed.
Diagnosis of MP pneumonia was made based on 2-times titration of IgM
antibody during hospitalization. An RWE patient was defined as one with
expiratory wheezing with at least one or more wheezing episodes based on
medical records. Results: During 3 MP pneumonia epidemics, there were no
corresponding increases of patients with RWE in the epidemic years. In the
501 MP pneumonia patients, 52 (10.4%) had wheezing at presentation and 15
(3%) had RWE. The MP pneumonia patients with wheezing at presentation
(n=52) were younger and were more likely to have an allergic disease
history than those without wheezing (n=449). Among wheezing patients at
presentation, 10 patients had previously RWE history. In a follow-up
study, 13 patients (including 5 RWE) with initial wheezing and 25 patients
(including 2 RWE) without wheezing had wheezy episodes after discharge.
Among the total 501 patients, it was estimated that at least 31 MP
pneumonia patients (6.2%) showed recurrent wheezing after initial MP
infection. Conclusions: A small part of children with MP pneumonia showed
recurrent wheezing after MP pneumonia, and patients with RWE had a greater
likelihood of experiencing wheezing when they had an initial MP infection.
However, there were no increased admitted patients with RWE in MP
pneumonia epidemic periods because of rarity of MP reinfection in children
including patients with RWE or asthma.