This review highlights the increasing incidence of Kawasaki disease and the critical need for adequately powered clinical trials and longitudinal studies to understand long-term cardiovascular consequences.
Rising Kawasaki incidence in aware regions warrants heightened clinical vigilance; leaves open true epidemiologic trends and pathogenesis.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Kawasaki disease presents many challenges to the diverse group of physicians who care for these patients including infectious disease specialists, rheumatologists, and cardiologists. Here we review some of the progress being made toward improved understanding of disease pathogenesis, treatment, and long-term outcomes. RECENT FINDINGS: Epidemiologic studies in different populations documented increasing numbers of cases in countries with high physician awareness of the disease. These data suggest true increases in patient numbers rather than increases because of increased case ascertainment. Adequately powered clinical trials for adjunctive therapies continue to be an unmet need. Long-term consequences of damage to the arterial wall and myocardium are beginning to emerge and systematic, longitudinal observational studies are needed to better define outcomes. SUMMARY: The unknown cause, lack of a specific diagnostic test, and uncertain future for patients who develop permanent cardiovascular damage all require further study.
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Burns et al. (2018) studied this question.
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