Pattern of Rheumatic Fever in Egyptian Children Younger Than 5 Years

Abstract

Aims: Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is common between 5-15 years, uncommon with different presentation 25 in children below 5 years. The aim of this study is to assess the frequency and characterize the pattern of 26 presentation of rheumatic fever (RF) in Egyptian children younger than 5 years. Study Design: Retrospective study. Place and Duration of the Study: Pediatric department, cardiology division, Cairo University Children's Hospital, 5 years follow up. Methodology: We retrospectively reviewed the pre-completed data of 766 patients following up in the rheumatic fever clinic. Those with incomplete medical records were excluded. We compared between children younger than 5 years and those who are 5 years or older as regards their demographic data, clinical presentations, laboratory findings and echocardiographic findings. Results: We enrolled 667 patients; 17 of them (2.5%) were younger than 5 years (mean age 3.82± SD 0.393 years). The group of patients younger than 5 years old; included 10 females (58.8%) and 7 males (41.2%). Positive family history was encountered in 6 patients (37.7%). The most common presentations of the younger age group of patients were arthritis in 12 patients (70.5%), followed by carditis in 5 patients (29.4%), chorea in 3 patients (17.6%), and skin manifestations in 2 patients in the form of erythema marginatum (11.7%). Subclinical carditis was more common in younger children than the Research Article