The Clinical and Epidemiologic Features of Kawasaki Disease in Kocaeli Region: Results of 24 Patients

Objective: The objective of this study is to describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children with Kawasaki disease (KD) in the Kocaeli region of Turkey.Material and Method: The epidemiological, clinical and laboratory findings of twenty-four patients diagnosed and treated in the Kocaeli University Pediatric Cardiology Department between 2003-2009 were evaluated retrospectively. IVIG and acetylsalicylic acid were given to all patients. Results: The male to female ratio was 1.18: 1.The mean age of patients were 2.7±2.6 years (median: 26 months; range: 2 months -11 years). Four patients were under 6 months, 16 were between 6 months-5 years and 4 were over 5 years. The duration of illness at admission was mean 10.5±4.36 days (median:10.1 days; range: 5-22 days).16 (66.6%) patients were diagnosed at the acute stage, and 8 (33.3%) were diagnosed at the sub-acute stage. The most frequent findings-except fever- were oral mucosal changes (95.8%) and conjunctivitis (91.6%). Three patients (12.5%) had minimal coronary artery dilatation. Intravenous gamma globulin and acetylsalicylic acid were administered to all patients. The clinical and laboratory findings of all patients returned to within normal ranges after treatment. Coronary artery dilatation was not detected in the follow up in any of the patients or in 3 patients who had coronary artery dilatation previously.Conclusions: We suggest that, by increased awareness of the epidemiology and spectrum of the clinical presentation, KD could be diagnosed more frequently than before, so it may become the most freqeuent vasculitis causing cardiac disease in future. All pediatric clinicians should certainly be aware of the clinical presentation of KD for early recognition and optimal management in order to prevent fatal complications.