A single tertiary hospital-based retrospective observational study on epidemiological features and clinical correlates of severe pediatric

Background: Methods: Based on the diagnostic criteria of severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) defined by the 2024 revised Guidelines for the management of CAP in children, we consecutively enrolled hospitalized children with CPP from January 2022 to December 2025. We retrospectively collected the clinical data of 121 children diagnosed with CPP and divided them into severe and non-severe groups. Univariate analysis was performed to explore the potentially relevant indicators associated with SCPP occurrence. Subsequently, meaningful indicators were subjected to multivariate logistic regression analysis to screen for independent clinical correlates for SCPP. Results: A total of 6,137 hospitalized children were enrolled in this study, among whom 121 cases were diagnosed with CPP, with a total positive rate of 1.97%. The proportion of CPP among the total hospitalized showed a significant annual increasing trend (rising from 1.53% to 6.81%). The significant difference was observed among different seasons (χ Conclusions: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall incidence of CPP among children in Shanghai remained at a relatively low level, but it exhibited a clear annual increasing trend with the highest prevalence occurred in spring and school-aged children that aged 12-14 years were particularly susceptible. The majority of symptoms were fever and cough. CPP is also prone to concurrent infections with other pathogens, and a higher proportion of severe cases were observed. In children with CPP, N% >57.45%, C4 >0.28 g/L, IgE >102.40 IU/mL, and the imaging changes predominantly manifested as pulmonary consolidation may be the critical condition alerts of SCPP.