Clinical profile and immediate outcome of the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: Retrospective observational single center study from the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Background: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a post-viral complication that has been described among children after 2–6 weeks of exposure to the COVID-19 virus from various parts of the world. However, published literature regarding MIS-C from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the demographic details, clinical, radiological and laboratory findings, disease management, and clinical outcomes of a larger group of patients from UAE presenting with features of MIS-C. Subjects and Methods: This hospital-based retrospective observational study was conducted among children between the age of 1 month and 12 years, hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital in Sharjah, from September 2020 to October 2021. Results: Our study population belonged to various nationalities from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The median interquartile range age of our patient population was 7.5 (4–10) years. All the study participants presented with fever lasting for a mean duration of 5.17 days. About 93.33% and 83.33% of the patients presented with gastrointestinal and cardiovascular symptoms, respectively. MIS-C overlapping with Kawasaki disease was the most common phenotype. All the patients received intravenous immunoglobulin and steroids. There was only one death in our study cohort. Conclusions: Although our patient population belonged to mixed ethnicity most characteristics of our MIS-C patients were very similar to that of other cohorts in terms of clinical, laboratory features, and response to treatment.

Keywords

• covid-19
• intravenous immunoglobulin
• multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children