The incidence of Kawasaki syndrome in West Coast health maintenance organizations.
BACKGROUND
Kawasaki syndrome (KS) causes an acute vasculitis of unknown etiology. It is a leading cause of acquired heart disease of children in Japan and the United States.


METHODS
We examined the incidence of KS in a well-defined population group of children < or =6 years of age, using data collected through the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) project. The VSD database contains information on >1 million children enrolled in four West Coast health maintenance organizations (HMOs).


RESULTS
During 1993 through 1996 a total of 234 physician-diagnosed KS patients were reported in the 4 HMOs; 152 (65.0%) were boys and 195 (83.3%) were <5 years of age. The incidence of KS among children <5 years of age in the HMOs ranged from 9.0 to 19.1 per 100,000 person years. KS incidence was higher among boys in 3 of the sites. In the 2 sites with the highest number of KS patients, a seasonal occurrence of KS in winter and early spring was observed. Overall 226 (96.6%) of the KS patients were reported to have been hospitalized; hospitalization rates for children <5 years of age ranged from 9.0 to 16.8 per 100,000 person years.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of KS in the HMOs was similar to that reported in other population-based studies in the United States and higher than estimates for Australia and several European countries.
Belay
E D
ED
Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. ebb8@cdc.gov
Holman
R C
RC
Clarke
M J
MJ
Destefano
F
F
Shahriari
A
A
Davis
R L
RL
Rhodes
P H
PH
Thompson
R S
RS
Black
S B
SB
Shinefield
H R
HR
Marcy
S M
SM
Ward
J I
JI
Mullooly
J P
JP
Chen
R T
RT
Schonberger
L B
LB
D000367:Age Factors; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009922:Oregon / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology