Epidemiology of kawasaki disease in Asia, Europe, and the United States

Abstract

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis that mainly affects children younger than 5 years. Although Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki first reported KD over 40 years ago, the cause of the disease remains unknown. Currently, KD has been diagnosed in more than 60 countries, including those in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, as well as in North America and Europe. The purpose of this review is to describe the epidemiologic features of KD-particularly its incidence, seasonality, and the occurrence of coronary artery abnormalities-primarily in Japan and the United States, but also in Europe and other Asian countries. © 2012 by the Japan Epidemiological Association.