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Epidemiology of Kawasaki disease in Italy: surveillance from national hospitalization records

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Abstract

Kawasaki disease is a systemic vasculitis with an acute and self-limited course. The incidence of the disease differs widely among ethnic groups and is higher in the Asian populations. In Italy, no recent data are available. We studied the epidemiology of Kawasaki disease in the years 2008–2013 in children 0–14 years old in Italy using hospital ICD-9 discharge codes with a thorough data cleaning for duplicates in order to select the first hospital admission for the disease. The disease peaked in the first 2 years of life, with 85.5% of cases under 5 years. Male/female ratio was 1.4:1. The incidence rate was 5.7 per 100,000 children 0–14 years old and 14.7 for children younger than 5 years. The incidence rose slightly during the study period and had a seasonal distribution, with higher incidence in spring. A coronary artery aneurysm was recorded in 2.2% of the patients younger than 5 years of age.

Conclusion: This is the first epidemiologic study on Kawasaki disease incidence in the country of Italy. Figures are in line but slightly higher than those reported for other European countries.

What is known:

• Kawasaki disease is more common in Asian populations.

• European incidence data are scarce.

What is new:

• Epidemiological data in Italy show similar incidence, albeit slightly higher, than in other European countries.

• Incidence data slightly rose in the recent past.

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Abbreviations

KD:

Kawasaki disease

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ministry of Health (Dipartimento della Programmazione e dell’Ordinamento del Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, Direzione Generale della Programmazione sanitaria) for providing data of the national hospital discharge records.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rheumatology Unit, Anna Meyer Children’s Hospital, Viale Pieraccini 24, 50139, Florence, Italy

    Rolando Cimaz

  2. Neurofarba Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Rolando Cimaz

  3. Epidemiology Unit, Regional Health Agency of Tuscany, Florence, Italy

    Eleonora Fanti & Fabio Voller

  4. Department of Pediatrics, San Giacomo Hospital, Novi Ligure, Italy

    Angela Mauro

  5. Epidemiology Unit, Anna Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy

    Franca Rusconi

Authors
  1. Rolando Cimaz
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  2. Eleonora Fanti
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  3. Angela Mauro
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  4. Fabio Voller
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  5. Franca Rusconi
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Contributions

All authors have contributed to the manuscript. In particular, Angela Mauro and Fabio Voller collected data and reviewed the manuscript; Eleonora Fanti and Franca Rusconi analyzed the data and critically reviewed the manuscript; and Rolando Cimaz conceived the study, contributed to data collection, reviewed the manuscript, and wrote the article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rolando Cimaz.

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Funding

No funding was obtained for this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval and informed consent

The study was carried out in compliance with the Italian law on privacy (Art. 20–21, DL 196/2003). Data were anonymized at the regional statistical offices where a unique identifier was assigned to each patient. This identifier does not allow tracing the patient’s identity and other sensitive data. When anonymized administrative data are used to inform health care planning activities, studies are exempt from notification to the ethics committee.

Additional information

Communicated by Mario Bianchetti

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Cimaz, R., Fanti, E., Mauro, A. et al. Epidemiology of Kawasaki disease in Italy: surveillance from national hospitalization records. Eur J Pediatr 176, 1061–1065 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-017-2947-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-017-2947-3

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