Abstract
Forty-four children with Kawasaki disease were identified retrospectively from the medical records of the Department of Paediatrics of the University of Hong Kong between 1984 and 1990. Serum IgE levels from 30 of 44 patients with Kawasaki disease were obtained at least 4 months after the acute disease. Histories concerning asthma or eczema were obtained from 39 of 44 children by a standard questionnaire. Two age- and sex-matched normal controls per study case were recruited from the community. Serum IgE and atopic history were similarly obtained from the controls. The serum IgE levels from children in the convalescent phase of Kawasaki disease were significantly higher than that of age- and sex-matched normal controls (p < 0.02), with a median serum IgE of 85 IU/ml (range 4-679) for the Kawasaki patients compared to a median of 22 IU/ml for controls (range 1-653). Although we found a higher prevalence of atopy in children with Kawasaki disease when compared with matched controls (20.5% vs 10.3%), this difference was not statistically significant. We conclude that there is a possible link between Kawasaki disease and atopy in Hong Kong children.
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