Kawasaki Disease

During Vasculitis Awareness Month in May, patient advocacy organizations face the challenge of raising awareness for a rare disease with many different manifestations and states.

The American College of Rheumatology and the Vasculitis Foundation have released new guidelines for Kawasaki disease, focusing on diagnostic issues, high-risk patients and convalescent patient management.

Infections caused by rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus and varicella, precede Kawasaki disease outbreaks by 1 to 3 months in children and young adults in South Korea, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.

Healio and Cardiology Today have curated a list of the most read cardiology news of June 2021.

Researchers developed a genetic risk score that depicts the relationship between variants in HMGCR and pleiotropic effects of statins. They found that a certain HMGCR risk score was associated with an increased odds of type 2 diabetes.

The decrease in Kawasaki disease rates in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic may be attributable to pandemic prevention efforts, including mask-wearing, hand-washing and physical distancing, researchers reported.

Maternal ankylosing spondylitis is associated with a 2.02-times higher likelihood of Kawasaki disease in the offspring, according to a research letter published in JAMA Network Open.

British researchers found that beta-blockers were associated with a reduced risk for primary care consultations for knee osteoarthritis and knee and hip pain. A review of the findings was the top story in rheumatology last week.

Clinicians and researchers continue to debate the etiology and treatment paradigms for the severe inflammatory syndrome that impacts some children with COVID-19, according to a speaker at the ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium.

Researchers in Spain found that patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease had a greater risk for developing severe COVID-19 pneumonia than the general population.