A Retrospective Study on the Agreement and Diagnostic Utility of the Biofire Pneumonia Array Compared to the Sputum Culture in a Tertiary Hospital in Metro Manila from January 2022 to August 2023

In the Philippines pneumonia is the fifth leading cause of death with a wide range of pathogens – both bacterial and viral accounting for majority of cases. Hence, the growing need to quickly identify pathogens to decrease patient mortality. This is a retrospective cross sectional study on the agreement of the BioFire pneumonia and the sputum culture. A review of the database was conducted and data was collected and results of the pneumonia panel was retrieved. Demographics of patients and agreement of BioFire results with cultures was gathered. The study showed that pneumonia panel was done more amongst the elderly population and on patients with hypertension, coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus – who were also more likely to have pathogen detection. Outcomes of patients were also observed to differ based on the degree of agreement. Bacterial pathogens most frequently identified pathogens were K. pneumoniae group, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus whereas most frequent viral pathogen detected was Human rhinovirus/enterovirus, Respiratory Syncytial virus and Coronavirus. Changes and antibiotic modifications were also reviewed with primary results trending towards antibiotic escalation when a pathogen is detected. Last, the study showed that the sensitivity and specificity of the Biofire PN panel compared to the sputum culture was 91.3% and 46.8%. Hence, although the sputum culture remains to be the standard of care in respiratory infections, this study provides that Biofire Pneumonia panel is a viable option in providing earlier and accessible pathogen detection.