According to the RCPCH definition, the child may test positive or negative for SARS-CoV-2, but other possible microbial causes need to be excluded. The CDC case definition for MIS-C comprises individuals "aged <21 years presenting with fever, laboratory evidence of inflammation, and evidence of clinically severe illness requiring hospitalization, with multisystem (>2) organ involvement (cardiac, renal, respiratory, hematologic, gastrointestinal, dermatologic or neurological)." It also requires that there should either be a positive antigen/antibody SARS-CoV-2 test or COVID-19 exposure in the 4 weeks before onset of symptoms, along with exclusion of other plausible diagnoses. This case definition is quite broad (it overlaps not only with Kawasaki disease, but also with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and various infectious/inflammatory conditions of childhood, including other viral diseases), but not as broad as the RCPCH definition. The CDC advises health providers in the United States to inform their public health authorities of suspected cases, even if they also meet full or partial criteria for Kawasaki disease, and to consider MIS-C after any childhood fatality in which there is evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Further case definitions have been formulated by the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU) and the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP). Some provisional diagnostic guidance has been provided by both the American College of Rheumatology and the American Academy of Pediatrics. In the UK, consensus has been reached for diagnostic investigation of children with suspected PIMS-TS. A clinical pathway for diagnostic evaluation of suspected MIS-C has also been proposed by the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.
Over half (52%) the children with available information had no recorded underlying health condition, including being overweight or obese (among those who did have some comorbidity, 51% were either overweight or obese).Regarding ethnicity, reports from France and the UK raised the possibility that children of Afro-Caribbean descent may be at greater risk, plausibly due to a genetic predisposition. In the US (as of mid-July), the majority of cases were classified as Hispanic/Latino (38%) or non-Hispanic Black (33%) people. Based on reports confined to Europe and the US, the condition seems to affect more children of African, Afro-Caribbean, and Hispanic descent, whereas Kawasaki disease affects more of East Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry. The role of socioeconomic and other environmental factors in such discrepancies is unclear.As regards geographical distribution, there has been uncertainty as to whether the initial reports of cases in Europe and North America reflected a true pattern, or whether the condition had gone unrecognized elsewhere. In Japan and other Southeast and East Asian countries where Kawasaki disease is usually much more prevalent than in Europe, no case of Kawasaki-like disease linked to COVID-19 had been reported during the first wave of transmission. Reports of confirmed or suspected cases have since emerged in many different countries around the world.None of the three main provisional case-definitions  of the emerging entity is diagnostically specific. Concerns have been raised regarding the potential for missed or delayed diagnosis of Kawasaki disease due to heightened diagnostic suspicion for the new entity.