Prevalence of Community Acquired Pneumonia Caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae in Hospitalized Patients in Arak City 2016-17

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is an acute infectious disease of respiratory system. CAP is a common and potentially serious illness and is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality particularly in elder adult patients and those with significant comorbidities. One of the important causes of pneumonia is Mycoplasma pneumonia which has a mild course and rarely leads to hospitalization. In this study we aimed to determine the prevalence of pneumonia caused by M. pneumoniae in hospitalized patients in Arak city.
This study was conducted in 415 hospitalized patients older than 18 years, diagnosed with CAP in Valiasr hospital in Arak city. Pharyngeal swabs or sputum were taken from all patients and tested for M. pneumoniae by real time PCR.
A total of 415 cases with mean age 53.73± 19.88 years were enrolled in the study. 54.7% of them were men and 45.3% were female. M. pneumonia was detected in 9.4% of patients. Cases were infected with M. pneumoniae had significantly lower age compared to patients with pneumonia due to other pathogens (P value: 0.001). The highest incidence of mycoplasma pneumonia was observed in the spring and summer.
This study showed that M. pneumonia is causative agent of pneumonia in 9.4% of hospitalized CAP patients. Due to highest prevalence of mycoplasma pneumonia in spring and summer and in younger cases, M. pneumoniae should be considered as a causative agent of pneumonia in younger hospitalized CAP patients in these seasons.