Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease: incidence and progression in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1997 to 2010.

[acute rheumatic fever]

Although acute rheumatic fever (ARF ) and its sequel , rheumatic heart disease (RHD ), continue to cause a large burden of morbidity and mortality in disadvantaged populations , most studies investigating the effectiveness of control programs date from the 1950 s . A control program , including a disease register , in the Northern Territory of Australia where the Indigenous population has high rates of ARF and RHD allowed us to examine current disease incidence and progression .ARF and RHD incidence rates , ARF recurrence rates , progression rates from ARF to RHD to heart failure , and RHD survival and mortality rates were calculated for Northern Territory residents from 1997 to 2010 . For Indigenous people , ARF incidence was highest in the 5 - to 14 -year age group (males , 162 per 100 ,000 ; females , 228 per 100 ,000 ). There was little evidence that the incidence of ARF or RHD had declined . The ARF recurrence rate declined by 9 % per year after diagnosis . After a first ARF diagnosis , 61 % developed RHD within 10 years . After RHD diagnosis , 27 % developed heart failure within 5 years . For Indigenous RHD patients , the relative survival rate was 88 .4 % at 10 years after diagnosis and the standardized mortality ratio was 1 .56 (95 % confidence interval , 1 .23 -1 .96 ).For Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory , ARF and RHD incidence and associated mortality remain very high . The reduction in ARF recurrence indicates that the RHD control program has improved secondary prophylaxis ; a decline in RHD incidence is expected to follow .

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Diseases presenting "acute rheumatic fever" symptom

acute rheumatic fever

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