Why Is Aspirin Used For Kawasaki Disease?

Kawasaki disease refers to a health condition, which primarily affects children below 5years age. Doctors also refer it as Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome. High temperature is the characteristic symptom, which lasts for about 5days or even more. Common problems associated with the disease include swelling glands in the neck area, rash, cracked or dry lips, red toes or fingers and red eyes. Even though in some children, symptoms go on after three to four weeks with proper treatment, in some cases, children require relatively long time for the recovery.

Treatment of Kawasaki disease takes place in a hospital setting. This is because; it causes many severe complications and hence you should start with the treatment of your child as soon as possible. Furthermore, your child requires relatively long time for his/her recovery if your kid does not undergo proper treatment in a timely manner. ⁽¹⁾

Doctors may prescribe Aspirin to your child in case they suffer from kawasaki disease. Aspirin is a type of NSAID i.e. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

Strong reasons, for which doctors often recommend Aspirin medicine to treat Kawasaki Disease, are as follows-

• Aspirin eases your discomfort and pain
• The medicine helps in reducing your fever or high temperature
• As Aspirin is one of the anti-inflammatory medicines, at high dosage it helps in reducing your swelling problem.
• At low doses, Aspirin acts as an Antiplatelet to prevent the formation of blood clots.

Doctors prescribe you the exact dosage of aspirin medication based on the symptoms of your children and the period, for which one should intake aspirin. For instance, if the fever of your child subsides, doctor will recommend for high-dose of aspirin. Later on, doctors prescribe low dosage of aspirin up to 6weeks to weeks after the beginning of their kawasaki disease symptoms. Low dosage helps in reducing blood clots in case your child develops problems in his/her blood vessels responsible to supply blood towards the heart. ⁽²⁾

Doctors had initially used Aspirin during 1970s for young patients to cure Kawasaki disease. Based on favorable outcomes about kawasaki disease patients treated by using Aspirin, it has become a standard therapeutic agent to cure kawasaki disease. Especially, the anti-inflammation effects have proved to suppress vascular wall inflammation takes place in case of kawasaki disease patients at their acute phases. Along with this, Aspirin has antiplatelet effects to cure endothelial dysfunction and avoid the clot formation in various coronary arteries at the convalescent and sub-acute phases. Long-term dosage of Aspirin with CAA i.e. Coronary Artery Aneurysms is also essential for kawasaki disease patients. ⁽¹⁾

Kawasaki disease comes with few of the common symptoms. However, symptoms may be different for each child and they include-

• Moderate fever to high fever i.e. about 101degree of Fahrenheit, which rises as well as falls for maximum three weeks
• Swelling in the lymph glands within the neck and irritability
• Rash on the chest, groin, abdomen and back areas
• Sensitivity towards the light
• Bloodshot eyes
• Coated and swollen tongue
• Cracked, red and dry lips
• Dark and red interior mouth surfaces
• Swollen and red soles of your feet and palms of your hands
• Swelling and painful bone joints
• Peeling skin across your feet, hands and nail beds. ⁽³⁾

To conclude, we should say that Aspirin is one of the effective medications to manage various symptoms and complications associated with Kawasaki Disease.

References:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25518411
2. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/1001/p1141.html
3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/kawasaki-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20354598

Also Read:

• Can A Child Get Kawasaki Disease Twice?
• Do Adults Get Kawasaki Disease & It’s Diagnosis
• Is Kawasaki Disease Lifelong?
• What Triggers Kawasaki Disease & What’s The Recurrence Rate?
• How Do You Treat Kawasaki Disease?