association between mycoplasma pneumoniae infection and coronary artery aneurysm in children with kawasaki disease

Background: the epidemiology of kawasaki disease (kd) suggests that an infectious agent may be a potential disease trigger in susceptible children. several studies have shown that the cause of kd may be associated with mycoplasma pneumoniae (m. pneumoniae) infection. objectives: we aimed to investigate the relationship between m. pneumoniae infection and coronary artery aneurysm (caa) in children with kd in china. methods: from january 2015 to december 2018, a total of 330 children with kd met the inclusion criteria. relevant data were extracted and analysed. results: the children were stratified into two groups according to m. pneumoniae infection status. significant differences were identified in the proportion of patients with fever > 10 days, the occurrence of small caa, and the average serum sodium, pre-albumin (pa), and albumin levels but not in the occurrence of medium and giant caa between the two groups. according to binary logistic regression, m. pneumoniae infection (or: 0.515; 95% ci: 0.309 - 0.860; p = 0.011), serum sodium levels (or: 0.910; 95% ci: 0.851 - 0.972; p =0.005), and pa (or: 0.900; 95% ci: 0.854 - 0.949; p ≤ 0.001) levels were independently associated with occurrence of small caa. conclusions: we demonstrated that m. pneumoniae infection, serum sodium and pa levels are inversely related to the occurrence of small caa. these results suggest that m. pneumoniae infection may be associated with a decreased incidence of small caa. further large-sample studies are needed.