Background: Identifying the causes of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is challenging due to the disease’s complex etiology and the limitations of traditional microbiological diagnostic methods. Recent advances in next generation sequencing (NGS)-based metagenomics allow pan-pathogen detection in a single assay, and may have significant advantages over culture-based techniques. Results: We conducted a cohort study of 159 CAP patients to assess the diagnostic performance of a clinical metagenomics assay and its impact on clinical management and patient outcomes. When compared to other techniques, clinical metagenomics detected more pathogens in more CAP cases, and identified a substantial number of polymicrobial infections. Moreover, metagenomics results led to changes in or confirmation of clinical management in 35 of 59 cases; these 35 cases also had significantly improved patient outcomes. Conclusions: Clinical metagenomics could be a valuable tool for the diagnosis and treatment of CAP. Trial registration: Trial registration number with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2100043628.
CITATION STYLE
Xie, F., Duan, Z., Zeng, W., Xie, S., Xie, M., Fu, H., … Xie, L. (2021). Clinical metagenomics assessments improve diagnosis and outcomes in community-acquired pneumonia. BMC Infectious Diseases, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06039-1
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