Have a personal or library account? Click to login
The Impact of Acute Rheumatic Fever Diagnosis on Rheumatic Heart Disease Severity Cover

The Impact of Acute Rheumatic Fever Diagnosis on Rheumatic Heart Disease Severity

Open Access
|Aug 2025

References

  1. 1Davis K, de Oliveira LN, da Silva Almeida I, Noronha M, Martins J, Dos Santos M, et al. Morbidity and mortality of rheumatic heart disease and acute rheumatic fever in the inpatient setting in Timor-Leste. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 2021;57(9):13911396. DOI: 10.1111/jpc.15476
  2. 2Thandrayen J, Stacey I, Oliver J, Francia C, Katzenellenbogen JM, Wyber R. Estimating the true number of people with acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease from two data sources using capture–recapture methodology. Australian Health Review. 2024;49:AH24267. DOI: 10.1071/AH24267
  3. 3Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Australia 2023. Cat no: CVD 100 Canberra, AIHW. 2024.
  4. 4Engelman D, Wheaton GR, Mataika RL, Kado JH, Colquhom SM, Remenyi B, et al. Screening-detected rheumatic heart disease can progress to severe disease. Heart Asia. 2016;8:6773. DOI: 10.1136/heartasia-2016-010847
  5. 5Ralph AP, Noonan S, Wade V, Currie BJ. The 2020 Australian guideline for prevention, diagnosis and management of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Med J Aust. 2021;214:220227. DOI: 10.5694/mja2.50851
  6. 6Francis JR, Fairhurst H, Hardefeldt H, Brown S, Ryan C, Brown K, et al. Hyperendemic rheumatic heart disease in a remote Australian town identified by echocardiographic screening. Med J Aust. 2020;213:118123. DOI: 10.5694/mja2.50682
  7. 7Zoghbi WA, Adams D, Bonow RO, Enriquez-Sarano M, Foster E, Grayburn PA, et al. Recommendations for Noninvasive Evaluation of Native Valvular Regurgitation: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography Developed in Collaboration with the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2017;30:303371. DOI: 10.1016/j.echo.2017.01.007
  8. 8Pandian NG, Kim JK, Arias-Godinez JA, Venkateshvaran A, Campors Vieira LC, Little SH, et al. Recommendations for the use of echocardiography in the evaluation of rheumatic heart disease: A report from the American Society of Echocardiography. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2022;36:328. DOI: 10.1016/j.echo.2022.10.009
  9. 9Rwebembera J, Marangou J, Mwita JC, Mocumbi AO, Mota C, Okello E, et al. 2023 World Heart Federation guidelines for the echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2024;21:250263. DOI: 10.1038/s41569-023-00940-9
  10. 10Gewitz MH, Baltimore RS, Tani LY, Sable CA, Shulman ST, Carapetis J, et al. Revision of the Jones Criteria for the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever in the era of Doppler echocardiography: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2015;131:18061818. DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000205
  11. 11Reményi B, Wilson N, Steer A, Ferreira B, Kado J, Kumar K, et al. World Heart Federation criteria for echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease—an evidence-based guideline. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2012;9:297309. DOI: 10.1038/nrcardio.2012.7
  12. 12Robertson KA, Volmink JA, Mayosi BM. Antibiotics for the primary prevention of acute rheumatic fever: A meta-analysis. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2005;5:11. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2261-5-11
  13. 13Beaton A, Okello E, Rwebembera J, Grobler A, Engelman D, Alepere J, et al. Secondary antibiotic prophylaxis for latent rheumatic heart disease. N Engl J Med. 2022;386:230240. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2102074
  14. 14Carapetis JR, Beaton A, Cunningham MW, Guilherme L, Karthikeyan G, Mayosi BM, et al. Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:15084. DOI: 10.1038/nrdp.2015.84
  15. 15Haynes E, Mitchell A, Enkel S, Wyber R, Bessarab D. Voices behind the statistics: a systematic literature review of the lived experience of rheumatic heart disease. IJERPH. 2020;17:1347. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17041347
  16. 16McMillan DJ, Rafeek RA, Norton RE, Good MF, Sriprakash KS, Ketheesan N. In search of the Holy Grail: A specific diagnostic test for rheumatic fever. Front. Cardiovasc. Med. 2021;8:674805. DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.674805
  17. 17Otto CM, Nishimura RA, Bonow RO, Carabello BA, Erwin JP, Gentile F, et al. 2020 ACC/AHA guideline for the management of patients with valvular heart disease: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2021;77:e25e197. DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000923
  18. 18Cannon J, Roberts K, Milne C, Carapetis JR. Rheumatic heart disease severity, progression and outcomes: A multi-state model. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 2017;6:e003498. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.116.003498
  19. 19Ali S, Beaton A, Ndagire E, Alhag L. Silent Acute rheumatic fever unmasked by using handheld echocardiography for febrile children presenting in a rheumatic heart disease–endemic area. J. Pediatr. 2024;268:113954. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2024.113954
  20. 20Bradley-Hewitt T, Dantin A, Ploutz M, Aliku T, Lwabi P, Sable C. The impact of echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease on patient quality of life. J. Pediatr. 2016;175:123129. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.04.087
  21. 21Gurney J, Chong A, Culliford-Semmens N, Tilton E, Wilson NJ, Sarfati D. The benefits and harms of rheumatic heart disease screening from the perspective of the screened population. Int J Cardiol. 2016;221:734740. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2016.07.025
  22. 22de Dassel JL, de Klerk N, Carapetis JR, Ralph AP. How many doses make a difference? An analysis of secondary prevention of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 2018;7:e010223. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.118.010223
  23. 23Francis JR, Fairhurst H, Yan J, et al. Abbreviated echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease by non-experts with and without offsite expert review: A diagnostic accuracy study. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2023;36(7):733745. DOI: 10.1016/j.echo.2023.02.007
  24. 24Francis JR, Fairhurst H, Whalley G, Kaethner A, Ralph A, Yan J, et al. The RECARDINA Study protocol: Diagnostic utility of ultra-abbreviated echocardiographic protocol for handheld machines used by non-experts to detect rheumatic heart disease. BMJ Open. 2020;10:e037609. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037609
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gh.1454 | Journal eISSN: 2211-8179
Language: English
Submitted on: Feb 1, 2025
Accepted on: Jul 23, 2025
Published on: Aug 29, 2025
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2025 Jacqueline Maree Williamson, Gillian Whalley, Simon Thornley, James Marangou, Peter Morris, Joshua R. Francis, Vicki Wade, Bo Remenyi, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.