Objective To investigate the clinical value of serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) levels in combination with pulmonary function indicators in identifying severe Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) in children.

Methods A total of 102 children with severe MPP were selected as the study subjects (severe group), and another 102 children with mild MPP treated during the same period were selected as the mild group. The serum levels of IL-6, IL-8 as well as forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁), FEV₁ percentage of predicted (FEV₁%pred) and the ratio of FEV₁ to FVC at the time of admission of children in each group were compared.

Results The serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in the severe group were significantly higher than those in the mild group, while the FVC, FEV₁%pred, and FEV₁/FVC% were significantly lower than those in the mild group (P < 0.05). The serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 were negatively correlated with FVC, FEV₁%pred and FEV₁/FVC% (P < 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) for assessing the severity of MPP for IL-6, IL-8, FVC, FEV₁%pred and FEV₁/FVC% was 0.894 (0.849 to 0.939), 0.842 (0.787 to 0.897), 0.896 (0.851 to 0.942), 0.787 (0.725 to 0.849) and 0.744 (0.676 to 0.812), respectively. The AUC for the combined assessment of the above five parameters was 0.985 (0.973 to 0.997).

Conclusion Serum IL-6, IL-8 and pulmonary function indicators can reflect the severity of MPP in children. Their combined detection can be used to differentiate between mild and severe MPP in children early and timely.