Kawasaki disease and the current SARS-COV-2 pandemic: Rare lessons from a cohort of more than 1000 kawasaki patients in the netherlands

ABSTRACT

Background and Aim: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a paediatric vasculitis with an unknown aetiology. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical course, treatment and cardiovascular outcomes in children with KD. The secondary purpose of this study was to make a com-parison with the Kawasaki-like disease Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), which is triggered by SARS-CoV-2. Method(s) In this observational cohort study, clinical information from KD and MIS-C patients was collected. Data were described and a multivariate analysis was performed to identify risk factors for coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs). Clinical characteristics between KD and MIS-C were compared using chi-squared and Mann-Whitney U tests. Result(s) 1003 KD patients were included. The male-to-female ratio was 32, a majority of the patients were lt;5 years old (78.3%), treated with a single dose of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) (90.8%) and treated promptly (lt;10 days) (81.7%). A second dose of IVIG was needed in minority of the patients (24.7%). The main complication of KD were CAAs and known risk factors (i.e., male, young age, delayed treatment) for CAAs were confirmed. A total of 35 MIS-C patients were included for the comparison. These patients were older than the KD patients (Plt;0.0005), more often had an incomplete KD presentation (Plt;0.0005). MIS-C patients mainly presented with acute cardiac dysfunction, with complete recovery after treatment. Conclusion(s) KD and MIS-C are severe post-infectious inflamma-tory diseases. Due to the risk of cardiovascular complications, vigi-lance and prompt treatment are advised to reduce risk of cardiovascular complications.