Background: For children with a history of Kawasaki disease (KD), low grade inflammation was generally reported to be associated with persistent coronary artery lesions (CAL). However, this association has not been clearly demonstrated to hold true in KD adolescents and young adults (10-25 years of age).
Methods: We enrolled 104 subjects into our study, who were separated into the following 3 groups and controls: 1): 22 KD patients with angiography-confirmed CAL which persisted for an average of 12.5 years after onset of KD; 2) 38 KD patients with regressed aneurysms; 3) 44 KD patients without any coronary complications from the disease onset; and 4) 31 age-matched (18.7 ± 1.88 years old) healthy controls. Plasma levels of high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured for all participants.
Results: Plasma levels of hs-CRP were significantly higher in KD patients than in the controls, regardless of their coronary severity. However, there was no significant difference in hs-CRP levels among KD patients with different severities of CAL. Of the candidate risk factors of elevated hs-CRP such as body mass index, gender, coronary severity, and levels of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, linear regression analysis showed the only independent predictor of hs-CRP levels was BMI (β = 0.306, p = 0.01), rather than patient grouping (p = 0.091).
Conclusions: Our study found that levels of hs-CRP are significantly higher in adolescent and young adult patients with a history of KD, compared with age-matched controls. Low grade inflammation may play a minor role when KD patients enter into adulthood. body mass index (BMI), rather than coronary severity, was independently associated with the elevation of hs-CRP levels, one of biomarkers for further cardiovascular event. Therefore, ongoing control and management of BMI may be one of beneficial strategies that can be employed to help avoid elevation of hs-CRP levels in KD patients.
Key words: Adolescents; High sensitivity-C reactive protein; Kawasaki disease; Young adult.