# Prognosis of different types of acute infection in the first episode of childhood acute leukemia

## TL;DR

This study found that younger children with acute leukemia and infections have better outcomes than older children, with AML cases having higher rates of pneumonia and sepsis.

## Contribution

The study identifies age as a key prognostic factor and compares infection rates between AML and ALL in pediatric leukemia patients.

## Key findings

- AML patients had higher rates of pneumonia and sepsis compared to ALL patients.
- Younger children with AML or ALL and acute infections had more favorable prognoses than older children.
- Age was the only significant difference between poor and favorable prognosis groups in both AML and ALL.

## Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the prognosis of different types of acute infection in pediatric leukemia patients.

A retrospective study was carried out on pediatric leukemia patients with acute infections admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University between 1 September 2004 and 31 August 2022. Clinical characteristics, diagnostic findings, and prognostic outcomes were extracted from the eligible cases and analyzed.

There were 36 cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 72 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that met the inclusion criteria. There were significant differences in the incidence of pneumonia (47.2% vs. 27.8%, p = 0.045) and sepsis (19.4% vs. 2.8%, p = 0.006) between the AML and ALL groups. There were 10 cases with a poor prognosis and 26 cases with a favorable prognosis in the AML group. There were no significant differences between the poor prognosis and the favorable prognosis groups except for age (14.2 ± 1.2 years vs. 9.6 ± 4.3 years, p = 0.003). There were 14 cases with a poor prognosis and 58 cases with a favorable prognosis in the ALL group. There were no significant differences between the poor prognosis and favorable prognosis groups except for age (13.4 ± 2.7 years vs. 9.2 ± 4.7 years, p = 0.002).

There were significantly more incidence of pneumonia and sepsis in children with AML. Younger AML and ALL children with acute infections have more favorable prognoses than older children.