Distinct characteristics of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children in Poland
Kamila Ludwikowska, Magdalena Okarska‐Napierała, Natalia Dudek, Paweł Tracewski, Jacek Kusa, Krzysztof Piotr Piwoński, Aneta Afelt, Dominik Cysewski, Mateusz Biela, Bożena Werner, Teresa Jackowska, Catherine Suski, Miron B. Kursa, Ernest Kuchar, Leszek Szenborn, MOIS CoR Study Group, Marta Barszcz, Elżbieta Berdej-Szczot, Sebastian Brzuszkiewicz, Piotr Buda, Alicja Czajka, Agnieszka Czech, Ewa Czerwińska, Magdalena Figlerowicz, Małgorzata Firek-Pędras, Aneta Gawlik, Ewelina Gowin, Olga Izdebska, Danuta Januszkiewicz‐Lewandowska, Justyna Kiepuszka, A Koczwara, Danuta Koszałko, Magdalena Kośmider‐Żurawska, Janusz Książyk, Beata Kucińska, Martyna Kukawska, Anita Lackowska, Katarzyna Łapacz, Agnieszka Maliszak, Anna Mania, Joanna Mańdziuk, Artur Mazur, Katarzyna Mazur‐Melewska, Cezary Niszczota, Paulina Opalińska-Zielonka, Ilona Pałyga-Bysiecka, Katarzyna Rojewska, Anna Rożnowska-Wójtowicz, Bartosz Siewert, Paulina Sobiczewska, Lidia Stopyra, Agnieszka Stroba-Żelek, Joanna Stryczyńska-Kazubska, Tomasz Szatkowski, Barbara Szczepańska, Maciej Szczukocki, Robert Szylo, Filip Tyc, Katarzyna Wielgos, Ewa Wołowska, Jacek Wysocki, Anna Zacharzewska, Marcin Zaniew, Marzena Zielińska, Katarzyna Zięba-Glonek
Abstract
During the winter months of 2020/2021 a wave of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) emerged in Poland. We present the results of a nationwide register aiming to capture and characterise MIS-C with a focus on severity determinants. The first MIS-C wave in Poland was notably high, hence our analysis involved 274 children. The group was 62.8% boys, with a median age of 8.8 years. Besides one Asian, all were White. Overall, the disease course was not as severe as in previous reports, however. Pediatric intensive care treatment was required for merely 23 (8.4%) of children, who were older and exhibited a distinguished clinical picture at hospital admission. We have also identified sex-dependent differences; teenage boys more often had cardiac involvement (decreased ejection fraction in 25.9% vs. 14.7%) and fulfilled macrophage activation syndrome definition (31.0% vs. 15.2%). Among all boys, those hospitalized in pediatric intensive care unit were significantly older (median 11.2 vs. 9.1 years). Henceforth, while ethnicity and sex may affect MIS-C phenotype, management protocols might be not universally applicable, and should rather be adjusted to the specific population.