{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T06:14:41Z","timestamp":1790144081439,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790121600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Post-pandemic re-emergence of\n                      <jats:italic>Mycoplasma pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      has raised concern about pediatric hospital burden and intensive-care demand. We described temporal trends, age-stratified diagnosis-coded phenotypes, pathogen-related coded co-diagnoses, and variables associated with PICU-associated hospitalization.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      We conducted a single-center retrospective study based on diagnosis-coded discharge records from a tertiary maternal and child health hospital in Hubei, China. Hospitalization records of children aged 29\u202fdays to &amp;lt;18\u202fyears with finalized diagnosis-coded\n                      <jats:italic>M. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      -associated illness from June 2020 to March 2026 were screened; neonatal, adult, and manually verified repeated records were excluded. A stratified chart-validation subset (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f762) summarized microbiological evidence and selected coding-derived variables.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The analytic dataset included 33,047 pediatric hospitalization records; 16,848 (51.0%) were male and 872 (2.6%) were PICU-associated. Monthly records peaked in November 2023 (2,282), whereas PICU-associated records and rate peaked in October 2023 (99; 4.95%). Respiratory failure\/hypoxemia was recorded in 6.6% of the 1\u2013&amp;lt;12\u202fmo group versus 1.3% of the 72\u2013&amp;lt;144\u202fmo group; coded sepsis\/septicemia in 11.2% versus 5.9%; and cardiac abnormality\/coded myocardial involvement in 25.0% versus 15.6%. Atelectasis and consolidation peaked in the 72\u2013&amp;lt;144\u202fmo group (24.1 and 13.0%). The most common pathogen-related coded co-diagnoses were respiratory syncytial virus (2,096; 6.3%), rhinovirus (2,031; 6.1%),\n                      <jats:italic>Haemophilus influenzae<\/jats:italic>\n                      (1,351; 4.1%), adenovirus (1,348; 4.1%), and influenza virus (956; 2.9%). In the extended exploratory model, age 1\u2013&amp;lt;12\u202fmo (aOR, 2.59; 95% CI, 2.07\u20133.24), age 12\u2013&amp;lt;36\u202fmo (aOR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.40\u20132.07), influenza virus (aOR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.50\u20132.86), respiratory syncytial virus (aOR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.43\u20132.35), and major chronic\/congenital comorbidity (aOR, 8.07; 95% CI, 6.69\u20139.74) were associated with PICU-associated hospitalization.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Diagnosis-coded pediatric\n                      <jats:italic>M. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      -associated hospitalization records increased after June 2023 and peaked in November 2023, with age-structured coded phenotype patterns and measurable PICU-associated burden. Findings represent hospital-based diagnosis-coded patterns, not laboratory-adjudicated incident infections or population incidence.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1875440","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T05:49:46Z","timestamp":1790142586000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Age-related heterogeneity in diagnosis-coded pediatric Mycoplasma pneumoniae-associated hospitalizations and PICU-associated care: a single-center retrospective study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Ming","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Buyun","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]},{"name":"Children's Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Center of Hubei Province, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhi","family":"Xia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]},{"name":"Children's Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Center of Hubei Province, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liang","family":"Bao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Children's Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Center of Hubei Province, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]},{"name":"Department of Public Health, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Hubei University of Medicine","place":["Shiyan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qin","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenqiang","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province","place":["Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"747","DOI":"10.1128\/CMR.00114-16","article-title":"Mycoplasma pneumoniae from the respiratory tract and beyond","volume":"30","author":"Waites","year":"2017","journal-title":"Clin Microbiol Rev"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1002\/ped4.12469","article-title":"Evidence-based guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia in children (2023)","volume":"9","year":"2025","journal-title":"Pediatr Investig"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2553","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms9122553","article-title":"Pulmonary and extrapulmonary manifestations in hospitalized children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae 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