Fung SG, Webster R, Kuenzig ME, et al. - An elevated risk of arthritis but not of other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) was observed following the acute Kawasaki disease (kDa) event in children diagnosed with kDa. Thus, monitoring for arthritis in children following a diagnosis of kDa is recommended.

• A matched population-based cohort study was performed using health administrative data from Ontario, Canada.

• A total of 3,753 children diagnosed with kDa were matched to 5 non-kDa controls from the general population (n = 18 749).

• Incidence of IMIDs post-resolution of kDa was ascertained.

• kDa patients exhibited an elevated risk of arthritis, vs non-kDa controls, starting three months following index date (103.0 vs 12.7 per 100 000 person-years (PYs); incidence rate ratio (IRR) 8.07; hazard ratio (HR) 8.08.

• This resulted in elevated overall incidence of IMIDs in kDa patients (175.1 vs 68.0 per 100 000 PYs; IRR 2.58; HR 2.58).

• kDa patients did not exhibit an increased risk for diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis or multiple sclerosis.