Evolution of viral pneumonia before and after COVID-19 pandemic---A
retrospective study based on respiratory viral nucleic acid results from
5,928 patients
Abstract
Background:There are limited data on etiology of viral pneumonia under
the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to investigate the changes of
viral pneumonia before and after COVID-19 pandemic among patients
diagnosed with pneumonia. Methods:This is a single-center retrospective
study. Patients hospitalized with pneumonia during January 1,2016 and
Dec 31,2021 in West China Hospital were included and divided into pre-
and post-COVID-19 groups according to the point of COVID-19 outbreak in
China which was December 8,2019. Results of the 13 viral nucleic acid
tests were compared between the two groups. Results:5,928 patients were
analyzed,3,945 in the pre-COVID-19 group while 1,983 in the
post-COVID-19. Respiratory viral nucleic acid screening proportion was
riseing after COVID-19 (14.8% VS 22.8%).But the positive rate of
post-COVID-19 total virus and Influenza virus had decreased 23.3% and
18.3%, respectively,p<0.05. The top three viral pneumonia were
InfAH1N1(2009),Human Rhinovirus,Human Adenovirus before COVID-19, while
HRV, Human Parainfluenza virus, Human Respiratory Syncytial virus after
COVID-19 pandemic. Notebly,InfAH1N1(2009) pneumonia decreased to 0%
after the pandemic. Conclusions:Proportion of viral pneumonia has
significantly decreased under the impact of COVID-19 pneumonia and the
incidence of InfAH1N1(2009) pneumonia is almost 0.