Effect of Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection on N-terminal Pro-brain Natriuretic Peptide Level in Patients with Kawasaki Disease

Effect of Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection on N-terminal Pro-brain Natriuretic Peptide Level in Patients with Kawasaki Disease

Coronary artery complications are the most severe complications in Kawasaki disease (KD). Its cause is unclear but superan-tigens are considered to influence KD. This study aimed to determine whether coronary artery complications and level of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) in patients with KD. We studied 142 pediatric patients diagnosed with KD. MP immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody examination was conducted. All patients underwent echocardiography, and coronary artery dilatation was defined as a coronary Z-score >2.0. We also evaluated their NT-proBNP findings. The independent t-test and Pearson chi-squared test were used to analyze between-group differences; a p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Forty children were MP IgM positive. MP IgM-positive patients were older than MP IgM-negative patients. There was no significant difference in the clinical manifestations between the groups. Comparison of the mean Z-score of the coronary artery revealed that only the Z-score of the left anterior descending artery was significantly different between the groups. However, the number of patients with coronary artery dila-tation was not significantly different between the groups. Our findings demonstrated no relationship between MP infection and coronary artery dilatation or NT-proBNP levels in patients with KD.