Comparison of multiple detection methods of Mycoplasma pneumoniae antibody for the early diagnosis of pediatric mycoplasma pneumonia

Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) is a common disease in infants and young children. MPP can also be a potential cause of healthcare-associated pneumonia. However, it is challenging to make an accurate diagnosis in a timely fashion. Our goal is to determine the assay consistencies of acridinium ester chemiluminescence immunoassay (AECLIA) and gelatin particle agglutination (GPA) test for the detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) antibody. In this study, a total of 1404 children with suspected MPP were enrolled. Among them, 130 were diagnosed as MPP positive by mycoplasma culture, and 186 were negative. MP antibodies were detected by AECLIA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and GPA. Consistency rates, differences among assays, and diagnosis performance were compared for the three methods. The independent χ2 test results of AECLIA and ELISA for the detection of MP-IgG and MP-IgM antibodies were χ2 = 29.210, P < 0.001; χ2 = 9.081, P = 0.017, respectively, suggesting that the two detection meth...