title: Early Detection of Kawasaki Disease in Infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of infantile Kawasaki disease (KD), and to evaluate early diagnostic features of KD in febrile infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 64 KD patients from January 2010 to October 2014. There was an analysis of the clinical, laboratory data of the infants versus children groups. Furthermore, the clinical and laboratory data of infantile KD patients were compared with 16 infants who were admitted for other acute febrile diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 64 patients with KD were identified; 20 (31.3%) were infants; 44 (68.8%) were >1 year old children. Incomplete KD was much more common in infants (n=13, 65.0%) than in children group (n=14, 31.8%) (p=0.013). The infants were characterized by significantly higher rates of inflammatory changes at the Bacille Calmett-Guérin (BCG) inoculation site (p<0.001), but lower rates of changes in the extremities (p=0.029) and cervical lymphadenopathy (p=0.006). The serum levels of platelet after 1 week (p=0.005), C-reactive protein (p=0.038), and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (p=0.026) were all significantly higher in the infants group. Comparing the infants with KD versus the other acute febrile diseases, there were significantly higher serum levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p=0.002), C-reactive protein (p=0.046) and NT-proBNP (p=0.001) for the infants with KD group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BCGitis and higher levels of NT-proBNP can be helpful for early diagnosis of the incomplete KD in infants, and may be a good predictor of KD in acute febrile infants, when combined with other acute phase reactants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Hae
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Ji
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: In Ae
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Min Ha
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Man
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Doo Kwon
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Dongguk University School of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Seok
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Early detection of disease; Infants; Kawasaki disease