Prevalence of Rheumatic Heart Disease among Children in Bangladesh

Aims: The prevalence of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is estimated to be higher in developing countries like Bangladesh than in developed countries, ranging from 24/1,000 to 0.3/1,000 respectively. There is no authentic national data since 2005 on prevalence of RHD in our country. Aim of this study is to find out present status of RHD among children in Bangladesh so that government can take further action to strengthen RHD prevention activity.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of children aged 5–15 years from 20 schools of urban non slum, urban slum and rural area was carried out by a team of cardiologists. Children were screened by clinical examination and diagnosis confirmed by echocardiography. Children who were not willing to enroll in the study and absent students at the day of data collection were excluded from the study. Ethical permission was taken from the institutional review board.

Results: Total 5024 school children aged 5 to 15 years were screened for rheumatic heart disease. Male female ratio was 1.01. Prevalence of RF and RHD were 1.6/1000 and 0.8/1000 respectively. Prevalence of RHD was significantly higher among urban slum children (3.78/1000) than rural (0.33/1000) and urban non slum children (0.66/1000).

Conclusion: The encouraging observation in our study is a decreasing trend of Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease in Bangladesh