Serum cholesterol levels during and after Kawasaki disease

Serum total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations were studied in paired sera from 23 patients (16 boys) with Kawasaki disease (KD) during acute illness and in 35 patients (21 boys) 5.4 to 7.7 years after KD. Total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol concentrations were significantly lower (paired t test, p = 0.0001) in samples taken within 30 days of the onset of illness (3.32 +/- 0.85 mmol/L (128 +/- 33 mg/dl) and 0.54 +/- 0.25 mmol/L (20.8 +/- 9.7 mg/dl) than in the second samples taken 2 to 16 months after onset of disease (4.16 +/- 0.93 mmol/L (161 +/- 35 mg/dl) and 1.24 +/- 0.35 mmol/L (47.2 +/- 13.9 mg/dl). The lowest total cholesterol levels were observed in samples taken 6 to 9 days after the onset of KD (p = 0.019). No correlations were seen between the highest erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, or thrombocyte counts and the acute or convalescent cholesterol levels. In patients studied 5.4 to 7.7 years after recovery from KD, the mean total cholesterol concentrations were still lower than in healthy Finnish children. In girls the HDL cholesterol concentrations were similar, whereas 3 of the 18 boys studied had HDL cholesterol values more than 2 SDs below the mean for healthy boys. There was no correlation between the serum cholesterol concentrations and coronary artery abnormalities. These data lead us to infer that KD does not cause such permanent changes in cholesterol metabolism as to be considered a risk factor for atherosclerosis beyond that caused by the disease itself.