Risk of coronary artery involvement in Kawasaki disease

INTRODUCTION: Kawasaki disease refers to systemic vasculitis with risk of coronary artery disease. Our objective is to identify risk factors associated with coronary artery disease in patients with complete and incomplete Kawasaki disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Descriptive, retrospective study conducted in patients diagnosed with Kawasaki disease in a tertiary-care hospital between 2008 and 2014. The American Heart Association diagnostic criteria were used to define complete and incomplete Kawasaki disease. RESULTS: Thirty-one children were diagnosed with Kawasaki disease; 24 met the criteria for the complete form, and 7, for the incomplete form of this condition. Five had coronary artery disease. One of them had incomplete Kawasaki disease (1/7= 14.3%), and the remaining four had the complete form (4/24= 16.7%). No significant differences were found between both groups (p= 1.0). Patients with coronary artery involvement had a higher C-reactive protein level (median: 16.2 mg/dL versus 8.4 mg/dL, p= 0.047) and lower albuminemia (median: 3.2 mg/dL versus 3.99 mg/dL, p= 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of coronary artery involvement in incomplete Kawasaki disease is similar to that in complete Kawasaki disease; therefore, in patients with the incomplete form, immunoglobulin therapy should not be delayed. In our population, C-reactive protein and albumin levels were related to a higher risk of coronary artery involvement.