Long-term follow-up of coronary artery lesions in children in Kawasaki syndrome

To describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of a Kawasaki syndrome cohort. In a monocentric, retrospective, observational study, between February 1982 and August 2018, we enrolled 361 children, aged 1 month to 24.4 years. Coronary artery lesions were detected in 20.2% of patients: 16% had coronary ectasia, and 4.15% had coronary aneurisms. A significant difference regarding age at disease onset (p = 0.025), fever duration (p < 0.0001), CRP (p = 0.001) and day of first IVIG administration (p < 0.0001) was detected among group. A significant correlation between coronary artery lesions and disease onset < 6 months (p = 0.009), second IVIG dose (p < 0.001) and male gender (p = 0.038) has been detected. Median long-term follow-up was 10.2 years (1-36 years). At the last available follow-up, patients without coronary involvement and coronary ectasia had normal cardiological tests, conversely, in patients with aneurisms, 8/13 showed persistent aneurisms at echocardiography, one ECG repolarization alterations, and one ST depression at the peak of effort during ergometric test.Conclusion: Children with lower age, longer fever, higher level of CRP and retard in IVIG administration are at higher risk to develop coronary artery lesions. Our long-term follow-up analysis confirms, over 36 years of observation, the benign course of Kawasaki syndrome even in coronary artery lesion patients, if timely treated.What is already known about this topic?• Stopping cardiologic assessment in no risk patients results economically advantageous, timesaving and able to reduce emotional discomfort in children and their families.• Age at disease onset, fever duration, CRP level, and day of first IVIG administration are possible risk factors for coronary artery lesionsWhat is New?• During 36 years of observation in real life, our study shows the benign course of Kawasaki syndrome without coronary artery lesions after 6-8 weeks from the disease onset.• Age < 6 months at disease onset is strongly related with coronary artery lesion development.