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Kawasaki disease in Spanish paediatric population and synoptic weather types: an observational study

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Abstract

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a vasculitis of unelucidated pathogenesis that usually occurs in paediatric patients. In this study we analyse the temporal pattern and geographical distribution of the disease in Spain, and its relationship with atmospheric circulation patterns. We performed a retrospective study in which we collected all hospital admissions due to KD in the country between 2005 and 2015 and explored their relationship with demographic and geographical characteristics. Moreover, we calculated daily surface atmospheric patterns over Spain to study the relationship between weather types (WT) and KD Admissions. The average admission rate for KD in the paediatric population was 3.90 per 100,000, with a male to female ratio of 1.56:1. The highest rate of admissions was found in the 0–4-year-old group, with an incidence of 11.7 cases per 100,000. Admissions followed an annual cyclic pattern with a peak of incidence in January (p = 0.022) and a nadir in September. There was an upwards trend in the number of KD admissions in male sex during the study period (p = 0.004). However, there were marked geographical differences in the incidence rate. Finally, the analysis of the relationship between the WT and the number of admissions by KD revealed no statistically significant association. KD admissions follow a peculiar seasonal and spatial distribution, that suggest the involvement of environmental factors in the disease; however, the absence of an association with WT should be interpreted with caution and regional studies should be done to explore this relationship.

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Funding

There was no specific financial support for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rheumatology Unit, Hospital Sierrallana, Torrelavega, Spain

    Leyre Riancho-Zarrabeitia

  2. Geography Department, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain

    Domingo F. Rasilla

  3. Department of Geography, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Dominic Royé & Pablo Fdez-Arroyabe

  4. Unit of Legal Medicine, Pharmacology and Physiology Department, University of Cantabria, Av Cardenal Herrera Oria s/n, 39011, Santander, Spain

    Ana Santurtún

Authors
  1. Leyre Riancho-Zarrabeitia
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  2. Domingo F. Rasilla
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  3. Dominic Royé
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  4. Pablo Fdez-Arroyabe
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  5. Ana Santurtún
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Contributions

LR-Z and AS conceived the study, elaborated the draft manuscript and are responsible for the full content. DR and PF-A calculated the weather type data. AS and DR performed the statistical analysis. All authors gave scientific inputs and contributed to the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ana Santurtún.

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Conflict of interest

Leyre Riancho-Zarrabeitia, Domingo F. Rasilla, Dominic Royé, Pablo Fdez-Arroyabe and Ana Santurtún declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Research involving human participants and/or animals

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Riancho-Zarrabeitia, L., Rasilla, D.F., Royé, D. et al. Kawasaki disease in Spanish paediatric population and synoptic weather types: an observational study. Rheumatol Int 38, 1259–1266 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-018-4066-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-018-4066-5

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