Association of antibiotic exposure with Kawasaki disease

Association of antibiotic exposure with Kawasaki disease. Download PDF Abstract Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute febrile vasculitis of unknown etiology that primarily affects children under five years old. Emerging evidence suggests that gut microbiota alterations may contribute to KD pathogenesis.

Because antibiotics modify intestinal microbial composition, their inappropriate or repeated use in early childhood may increase KD susceptibility. Population-based evidence linking antibiotic exposure with KD onset remains limited, and the influence of antibiotic class, number of antibiotic prescriptions, and administration route has not been systematically evaluated. To examine the association between antibiotic type, number of antibiotic prescriptions, route of administration, and KD onset in a nationwide dataset.

We conducted a matched case–control study using the JMDC database (2005–2024). Newly diagnosed KD cases ( n = 17,410) and controls ( n = 68,621) were matched 1:4 by age, sex, and birth year. Antibiotic exposure from birth until one month before the index date was assessed by class (penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides, quinolones, others), number of antibiotic prescriptions, and administration route (oral vs.

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