Objective To investigate the clinical diagnostic value of lung ultrasound (LUS) combined with serum interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-12p70 for pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods A total of 136 pediatric patients with suspected CAP were enrolled and divided into CAP group (95 patients) and non-CAP group (41 patients) based on chest computed tomography (CT) results as the gold standard. The LUS characteristics, LUS scores, serum levels of IL-1β and IL-12p70 were compared between the two groups at admission. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of LUS combined with serum IL-1β and IL-12p70 for CAP.

Results The incidence rates of interstitial disease, pleural line abnormalities, pleural effusion, lung consolidation, and bronchial signs were higher in the CAP group than those in the non-CAP group (P < 0.05). The serum levels of IL-1β, IL-12p70 and LUS scores were also higher in the CAP group than in the non-CAP group (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve for the diagnosis of CAP using LUS scores combined with serum IL-1β and IL-12p70 at admission was 0.981, with a sensitivity of 93.68%, a specificity of 95.12%, and a diagnostic efficacy was significantly higher than that of each index alone (P < 0.05).

Conclusion LUS combined with serum IL-1β and IL-12p70 has high diagnostic value for pediatric CAP.