Original Article Descriptive Epidemiology of Kawasaki Disease in Japan, 2011–2012: From the Results of the 22nd Nationwide Survey

Copyright © 2015 Nobuko Makino et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: The number of patients and incidence rate of Kawasaki disease (KD) are increasing in Japan. We have therefore characterized the latest epidemiological information on KD. Methods: The 22nd nationwide survey of KD, which targeted patients diagnosed with KD in 2011 and 2012, was conducted in 2013 and included a total of 1983 departments and hospitals. In order to report on all patients with KD during the 2 survey years, we targeted hospitals of 100 beds or more with pediatric departments, or specialized pediatric hospitals. Results: From a total of 1420 hospitals and departments (71.6 % response rate), 26 691 KD patients were reporte