Prevalence of chronic rheumatic heart disease in Chinese adults

Features of Acute Ischemic Stroke With Rheumatic Heart Disease in a Hospitalized Chinese Population

“…This also could be supported by a community population-based study on prevalence of RHD in China, which showed that the approximate prevalence of RHD was 186 out of 100,000 adults and no down trend was shown. 8 Therefore, our data support that stroke associated with RHD continues to be a common health problem in China.…”

“…13,17,18 The previous population-based investigation for prevalence of RHD in China supported our results, which found 6 of 15 cases were underdiagnosed. 8 One possible explanation is that improvement in health care resulted in these subjects having their rheumatic fever treated earlier, which could have resulted in silent and/or less severe symptoms during the chronic phase 8 and, moreover, these patients were reluctant to receive echocardiography because of poverty. In addition, there were 2 possible reasons for not receiving oral anticoagulants.…”

“…In China, the prevalence of RHD was 186 out of 100 000 adults and 10-times higher than the prevalence in industrialized countries such as Canada (0.22/1000) and Japan (0.14/1000). 8 Hence, because the burden of RHD is so high in China, it is crucial to understand clinical profile of patients with RHD-related stroke for better-designing distinctive prevention and treatment strategies in China. Unfortunately, detailed information on this issue is scarce and there has been no recent attempt to collate such information.…”

Rheumatic Heart Disease in Asia

“…A cross-sectional study of 8080 middle-aged to elderly people in China during 2001 to 2002 found a prevalence of 2 cases of echocardiographically proven rheumatic heart disease per 1000 people. 34 A 50-year retrospective study from 2 hospitals in Shanghai, China, found that cardiovascular admissions increased 3-fold over this period but that the proportion due to rheumatic heart disease declined 5-fold (from 50% to 10% of cardiac admissions). 35 A prospective study conducted in Lebanon from 1999 to 2005 found that rheumatic heart disease was the most common acquired heart disease in children (36% of cases).…”

Role of Echocardiography in Research into Neglected Cardiovascular Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…However, due to the persisting burden of the disease in some areas of the world echocardiography has been used in community studies in Mozambique and Cambodia (Marijon et al, 2007), Tonga (Carapetis et al, 2008), Nicaragua (Paar et al, 2010), Fiji (Steer et al, 2009;Reeves et al, 2011), Kenya (Anabwani et al, 1996), India (Thakur et al, 1996;Bhaya et al, 2010), Pakistan (Sadiq et al, 2009;Rizvi et al, 2004) and China (Zhimin 2006). These studies applied different inclusion and diagnostic criteria, raising the issue about the need for standardization of the definition of rheumatic heart valve disease by echocardiography.…”