Characteristics of the course of multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 in children according to the observations of the Kyiv City Children’s Clinical Hospital 2

Abstract

Background. In the context of coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a significant number of cases resembling Kawasaki disease in children have been reported worldwide and eventually termed “multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with SARS-CoV-2”. Objective: to compare the clinical presentation, laboratory fin­dings, and instrumental examination data in children with Kawasaki-like MIS-C phenotype and MIS-C with a shock phenotype with cases, which met the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria. Materials and methods. The article presents the results of a retrospective analysis of the disease histories in 20 children aged 2.5 to 16 years with a Kawasaki-like MIS-C phenotype and with MIS-C with a shock phenotype associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection who were hospitalized in the MNPE “Kyiv City Children’s Clinical Hospital 2” in 2002–2021. Results. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to symptoms and pathological conditions. Group I included children with clinical signs similar to the Kawasaki disease (n = 8). They were classified as those with Kawasaki-like MIS-C phenotype. Complications such as coronary artery dilatations and aneurysms occurred only in this group. Group II consisted of patients (n = 12) who were classified as those with MIS-C with a shock phenotype. Children in this group had a higher number of involved organ systems, were more likely to have shock, pleuritis, peritonitis, and a higher prevalence of abdominal pain. Furthermore, they exhibited elevated levels of leukocytes and neutrophils (p = 0.043; p = 0.047), along with a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (p = 0.05), compared to the patients with Kawasaki-like phenotype. Conclusions. Our results suggest that multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 in children is characterized by a wide range of clinical, laboratory and instrumental signs. Moreover, our findings highlight that children with features that correspond to MIS-C with a shock phenotype tend to have a more severe course of the disease and a higher rate of complications.