Kawasaki Disease in Texas Children

Kawasaki Disease (KD), an acute febrile illness of unknown etiology is the leading cause of non-congenital heart disease among children in the US. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe the prevalence of KD in Texas children using the 2004 Texas hospital discharge database, to describe the demographic characteristics of Texas Children with KD and to assess the need for continuing education for healthcare providers in recognizing the symptoms of KD. The study sample included 330 KD hospitalization cases in 2004 and used vital statistics for same year and state to calculate hospitalization rates. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, admitting diagnosis, risk mortality and source of admission were the independent variables. Results showed an overall hospitalization rate of 13.8 per 100,000 for children < 5 years old. There was an increased hospitalization rate for Non Hispanic Blacks (NHB) and Other (which included Asians) with 18.4 and 57.7 per 100,000 for children < 5 years old, respectively. Hispanic and non Hispanic whites presented lower hospitalization rates with 12.6 and 9.7 per 100,000 for children < 5 years old, respectively. The results further presented physicians failed to diagnose KD in 51% of cases on admission diagnosis. NHB < 5 years old were more likely to be correctly diagnosed with 67.6% compared to Other group, in which KD was diagnosed in only 29.7% of cases. More physician education is needed to promote earlier detection and treatment of KD in children as well as an active surveillance system from the CDC.