Research Article: Similarities and Differences between Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and Kawasaki Disease Shock Syndrome
Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of COVID-19-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and Kawasaki disease shock syndrome (KDSS) and to compare the similarities and differences between the two diseases. The incidence of KDSS and MIS-C was also estimated. Medical records of patients diagnosed with MIS-C or KDSS at four hospitals from January 2013 to December 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Thirty-one patients were enrolled in the study in either an MIS-C group (n = 22) or a KDSS group (n = 9). The incidence of KDSS in KD was 0.8% (9/1095) and the incidence of MIS-C versus KD was 10.2% (22/216). Compared with the MIS-C group, the KDSS group had longer hospital stays and more severe systemic inflammation (e.g., anemia, elevated C-reactive protein, hypoalbuminemia, and pyuria) and organ dysfunction (e.g., number of involved organs, shock, vasoactive infusion, and intensive care unit admission). All patients in the MIS-C group, but none in the KDSS group, including two patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, had laboratory evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. MIS-C and KDSS shared demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics; organ dysfunction; treatment; and outcomes. Overall severity was more severe in patients with KDSS than in those with MIS-C. The most important difference between MIS-C and KDSS was whether SARS-CoV-2 was identified as an infectious trigger.
Introduction:
Most children with COVID-19, which is caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms [1,2]. However, in April 2020, Verdoni et al. [3] reported an outbreak in Italian children presenting with a severe systemic inflammatory disease resembling Kawasaki disease (KD) who often required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) due to cardiac dysfunction and shock. Soon after, similar cases began to be reported in the United Kingdom, Spain,…
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