Prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in school children aged 6–15 years

Abstract

Objective The aim of the study was to detect the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease among school children aged 6–15 years old. Background Acute rheumatic fever is a disease that affects skin, subcutaneous tissue, joints, brain and heart. Before the availability of echocardiography, the diagnosis of rheumatic carditis depended upon clinical evidence of valvulitis. Nowadays, patients with definite rheumatic fever or suspected cases should undergo echocardiography to identify carditis. Patients and methods A permission was obtained from the ethical committee on the research. This study was done on 5000 student aged 6–15 years. The children had comprehensive history taking and clinical examination for signs of rheumatic heart disease. Those with any abnormality in history or clinical examination were investigated by echocardiography. Results A total of 5000 school children aged 6–15 years were included in this study. An abnormal cardiac examination and abnormal history were reported in 48 students. Overall, 13 students refused to undergo echocardiography. The result of echocardiography done was as follows: five cases had definite rheumatic heart disease, 10 cases had mitral regurge not meeting the criteria of rheumatic heart disease, one case had aortic regurge not meeting the criteria, one case had a ventricular septal defect, and the others were normal. Conclusion The use of echocardiography as diagnostic criteria of rheumatic heart disease can prevent both overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis of that disease. The prevalence rate of rheumatic heart disease in our study was found to be one per thousand (0.1%), which is less than other studies done in Egypt.