Prevalence of Kawasaki Disease in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitis of unknown etiology. The epidemiological data available for Nepal remains insufficient. In Nepal, Kawasaki disease has only been reported in cases of brief reports, leaving the true disease burden unknown. Many cases go undiagnosed and untreated due to a lack of knowledge regarding this entity. The objective of this study was to find the prevalence of Kawasaki disease in a tertiary care hospital.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital of Nepal from 2013 to 2018 after taking ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee. The sample size was calculated and the consecutive sampling method was done. Data collection and entry was done in Microsoft Excel, point estimate at 99% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data.

The overall prevalence of Kawasaki disease was found to be 0.10% at 95% Confidence Interval (0.07-0.13%) among 11,416 patients under the age of 5 years admitted in pediatrics ward. There were 4 (33.33%) cases of complete Kawasaki and 8 (66.67%) cases of incomplete Kawasaki. There were 9 (75%) males and 3 (25%) females and the male to female ratio was 3:1. There was a male preponderance. The age at diagnosis ranged between 4 and 60 months. The median age at diagnosis was 10.5 months. The most common presentation was fever, conjunctivitis, rash, and oral changes.

Prevalence of Kawasaki disease was found to be lesser compared to other studies done in other countries. Knowledge of Kawasaki disease among Nepalese pediatricians should be enhanced to guarantee the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of this disease.