Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41652580›Full record

Observational studyBMC pulmonary medicine2026

Metagenomic next-generation sequencing to detect Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in critically ill, HIV-negative children: a retrospective multicenter study.

Liming He, Yibing Cheng, Li Huang, Zhenyu Zhang, Qunqun Zhang, Ling Gong, Tian Li, Xiulan Lu, Xiaodi Cai, Gangfeng Yan

Abstract readMulticenter StudyObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in BMC pulmonary medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Liming He *Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Yibing Cheng *Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Henan Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China.
Li Huang *Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Guangzhou Women and Children's medical center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Zhenyu ZhangDepartment of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Qunqun ZhangDepartment of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Henan Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China.
Ling GongDepartment of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, China.
Tian LiDepartment of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Guangzhou Women and Children's medical center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Xiulan LuDepartment of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, China. 391118947@qq.com.
Xiaodi CaiDepartment of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China. 13681772364@163.com.
Gangfeng YanDepartment of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China. gangfeng_yan@fudan.edu.cn.

Funding

National Key Research and Development Program of China 2021YFC2701800
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMetagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) plays a critical role in the rapid detection of infectious pathogens. We aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of Pneumocystis jirovecii infection in children without HIV infection and to evaluate the performance of mNGS in distinguishing P. jirovecii colonization from true infection.

methodsA multicenter, retrospective analysis was conducted on critically ill, non-HIV-infected pediatric patients who tested positive for P. jirovecii via mNGS analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Group differences were assessed using Mann-Whitney U-tests (for continuous data) and chi-square tests (for categorical data). Discriminatory performance was evaluated by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve.

resultsA total of 59 HIV-negative children (age range: 2 months to 14 years) from four children's hospitals were included and classified into two groups based on P. jirovecii status: P. jirovecii pneumonia (PCP; n = 51) and P. jirovecii colonization (PCC; n = 8). Compared with the PCC group, the PCP group had significantly higher serum C-reactive protein levels and median P. jirovecii read counts in mNGS (both P < 0.05). The optimal threshold value for discriminating P. jirovecii infection from colonization appeared to be 556 reads (sensitivity, 77.6%; specificity, 100.0%). Eighteen patients (35.3%) in the PCP group died. Compared with survivors, these patients were significantly younger, had lower T-cell subset counts (CD3

conclusionsBALF mNGS analysis may have utility for differentiating between colonization and infection by P. jirovecii, warranting further investigation.

Indexed as

High-Throughput Nucleotide SequencingMetagenomicsPneumocystis cariniiPneumonia, PneumocystisAdolescentBronchoalveolar Lavage FluidChildChild, PreschoolCritical IllnessFemaleHumansInfantMaleRetrospective StudiesROC CurveChildrenMetagenomic next-generation sequencingNon-human immunodeficiency virusPneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia

Identifiers

PMID41652580
PMCPMC12977887

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.