90 - KAWASAKI DISEASE: MONOCENTRIC MOROCCAN COHORT

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is one of the most common pediatric systemic vasculitis and cause of acquired heart disease in children.  In North Africa, there is a significant lack of data on KD. The objectives of this study are to provide an epidemiological picture of KD in Morocco, and to determine the prevalence of cardiac involvement in our single-center study experience.

Methods: This is a retrospective prospective observational study of children with KD recruited between January 2019 and December 2023 from a tertiary Pediatric Rheumatology department in Casablanca, Morocco. Diagnosis of KD was based on 2017 American Heart Association criteria. Echocardiography was performed on all patients by an experienced paediatric cardiologist. Data were collected from medical files in the archives or at the bedside of newly admitted patients, and during their follow-up consultations using standardized form.

Results: During the period of 4 years, 69 Patients with KD were admitted; the mean age was 36 months with extremes between 3 months and 15 years, the sex ratio was 1.6, the mean days for consultation was 10 days and the mean diagnosis delay was 2.6 days. Thirty-nine patients met the criteria for complete KD and thirty of incomplete forms. All patients were treated with IVIG and Aspirine at moderate then low dose and 25 of KD patients received corticosteroids, among them 11 received methylprednisolone boluses. 4.3% were refractory and required a second dose of IVIG. 2.8% needed a third line treatment based on Anakinra. Coronary aneurisms were found in 7 cases with 3 cases of giant aneurisms, in these patients mean day of treatment equaled 19 days of the disease.

Conclusion: As described in the literature, our patients had a mean age of 36 months and were predominantly male. However, they were characterized by a higher rate of cardiac involvement due to a late average consultation time and an average of 13 days in starting IVIG.