Kawasaki disease in Israel

To characterize the epidemiology and estimate the incidence of Kawasaki disease (KD) among children in Israel.

Using the Israel National Hospital Discharge Register, we investigated the epidemiologic features of KD among children <18 years of age between 1996 to 2009 in Israel. Incidence rates were calculated using the corresponding census data.

During 1996 through 2009, 685 children <18 years of age were hospitalized for KD in Israel. Of these children, 88% were aged <5 years; the male/female ratio was 1.7:1; and most cases occurred in late winter-early spring. The overall incidence of KD was 6.4 per 100,000 children <5 years of age. Since 2000, there was a gradual increase in KD incidence as well as in the ratio of KD-associated hospitalizations to all-cause pediatric hospitalizations. For male infants <1 year of age, KD rates almost doubled: from 5.8 per 100,000 cases in 1996-1998 to an average of 11.9 cases per 100,000 in the following years (P = 0.002). The overall proportion of patients with coronary artery aneurysm was 2.9%, higher rates of coronary artery aneurysm were observed in patients <1 or >5 years of age and in male patients.

Major epidemiologic features of KD among Israeli children are similar to those reported for the white population in Europe and the United States. KD incidence increased during the study period, especially among male infants <1 year of age.