This project describes the national incidence of Kawasaki disease in England.

Background

Kawasaki disease is a rare, acute vasculitis that primarily affects young children. It is characterized by inflammation of the blood vessels, particularly those in the heart. It is also known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome because it often causes inflammation in the mucous membranes of the mouth, lips, and throat, as well as the lymph nodes in the neck.

Symptoms of Kawasaki disease may include fever, rash, redness and swelling of the hands and feet, redness and swelling of the whites of the eyes, swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck, and peeling of the skin on the fingers and toes. In some cases, Kawasaki disease can also cause inflammation in the coronary arteries, which can lead to serious complications, such as aneurysms or coronary artery stenosis.

The number of children in England affected by Kawasaki disease each year, as well as patterns of occurrence by age, sex, socioeconomic deprivation, ethnicity and geographical location were unknown.

Aims

The first aim of this project was to develop and validate methods to identify children with Kawasaki disease from hospital episode statistics (hospital administrative records) for the whole of England.

The second aim was to describe the incidence of Kawasaki disease in England, and to investigate the impact of age, sex, socioeconomic deprivation, ethnicity and geographical location.

Publications

Odingo, M., Rutter, M., Bowley, J., Peach, E. J., Lanyon, P. C., Grainge, M. J., Stillwell, P., McPhail, S., Bythell, M., Aston, J., Stevens, S., McCormack, R., Brogan, P., & Pearce, F. A. (2023). The incidence of Kawasaki disease using hospital admissions data for England 2006-2021. Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kead051

Plain English summary

Infographic