Early on children who experienced severe heart-damaging inflammatory reactions were diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, a very rare condition with largely unknown causes. As clinicians noted differences between the new cases and older ones, the diagnosis morphed into Kawasaki-like disease. It has since evolved into “multisystem inflammatory syndrome of childhood” (MIS-C).
The study co-authors say the medical community still has only a partial picture about the impact of MIS-C on children, in part because the rapidly evolving name changes has complicated data gathering. Also, with the pandemic still less than a year old in the U.S., much more study is needed to understand the long-term outcomes of MIS-C.
Much More to Learn
Some of the study’s limitations include not including kids who were infected, or potentially killed, by COVID19 due to lack of testing availability. The study likely undercounts the actual numbers of asymptomatic infected children across the country, and does not address what risk those children may have presented to adults in their lives.
The participating medical centers overcame enormous technical challenges to build this tracking system early in the pandemic. Now, the data can be quickly refreshed to allow further, deeper analysis as the pandemic continues.
“Effective response to SARS-CoV-2 will require rapid but robust development of new clinical and public health practices, based on a better understanding of viral and host biology,” the co-authors say. “This knowledge will be critical not only in caring for severely ill patients, but also in constructing sustainable ways to minimize the disease burden caused by SARS-CoV-2.”
Cincinnati Children’s co-authors on the JAMA study include Janet Zahner, Lead Data Warehouse Analyst.
This work was funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (RI-CRN-2020-007).