Acute Rheumatic Fever in Kuwait: The Declining Incidence

Incidence of acute rheumatic fever in the world: a systematic review of population-based studies

“…These studies had been conducted in 10 countries: the Americas (USA,12 Chile,13 and Martinique and Gouadaloupe14); Europe (Czechoslovakia,15 and Sweden16); the Middle East (Kuwait,17 18 and Iran19); Asia (India20); and Australasia (New Zealand21), and were published between 1967 and 1996. The study duration ranged from 3 to 12 years, with a mean (SD) of 6 (3.6) years.…”

“…Studies used either the modified13 – 15 19 or revised versions11 17 18 20 21 of the Duckett–Jones diagnostic criteria. In total, five studies used active case detection for the assessment of the incidence of ARF,12 14 18 20 21 with health education of health professionals being the method most commonly used to promote the identification of ARF cases 12 14 21.…”

“…In total, five studies used active case detection for the assessment of the incidence of ARF,12 14 18 20 21 with health education of health professionals being the method most commonly used to promote the identification of ARF cases 12 14 21. The remaining five studies used passive case detection,13 15 – 17 19both European studies falling within this group 15 16…”

Evaluation of the Epidemiological Findings of Acute Rheumatic Fever Between 1981 and 2012

“…Acute rheumatic fever incidence can be as high as 50/100.000. The highest incidence has been reported in Australia and New Zealand (19,25). Örün et al (12) reported the incidence of acute rheumatic fever as 21/100.000 in Central Anatolia region between 2000-2009 in Turkey.…”

“…This dramatic decrease in the incidence is believed to be due to improvement of standards of living, nutrition and individual hygiene; widespread use of antibiotics, the increase in the number of pediatricians and pediatric cardiologists and also the awareness of the disease both among the physicians and the community. Beyazova et al (13) (17)(18)(19)(20). In our study, a marked decrease in the incidence of acute rheumatic fever was detected when compared with the data of Turkey Statistics of Health before 1980.…”