Acute rheumatic fever is an autoimmune disease that develops due to streptococcal infection. The positive effect of breastfeeding on the development of the child’s immune system is well documented. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of breast milk intake period on the development of carditis.

Patients (n: 182) who were diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever between 2010 and 2019 were enrolled in the study. The patients were divided into groups according to carditis development. The demographic, socio-economic, and breastfeeding data were compared between groups.

The mean age of the patients was 10.5 ± 3.4, and 43.4 % (n: 79) of them were female. Independent predictors of the development of carditis in the first acute rheumatic fever episode were the number of children at home (OR: 1.773, CI 95%: 1.105, 2.845; p: 0.018) and breast milk intake less than 6 months (OR: 0.404, CI 95%: 0.174, 0.934; p: 0.034). Independent predictors of the development of carditis in any of the acute rheumatic fever episodes were the number of children at home (OR: 1.858, CI 95%: 1.100, 3.137; p: 0.021) and female gender (OR: 3.504, CI 95%: 1.227, 10.008; p: 0.019). The only independently predictor of the development of chorea during acute rheumatic fever was female gender (OR: 3.801, CI 95%: 1.463, 9.874; p: 0.006).

Although the occurrence of carditis is less common during the first acute rheumatic fever attack in patients with breast milk intake less than six months, this advantage is lost in recurrent attacks. This study showed that breast milk does not have a negative effect on acute rheumatic fever carditis.

In this single-centre prospective study, we aimed to evaluate the role of growth differentiation factor-15 in children with acute rheumatic fever.

The study group included 25 children with acute rheumatic fever, and the control group included 25 healthy children. In addition to routine laboratory tests used in the diagnosis and treatment of acute rheumatic fever, growth differentiation factor-15 levels of the study group (at the time of diagnosis and after the treatment) and the control group were assessed and compared.

The mean growth differentiation factor-15 level of the study group at the time of diagnosis (918.40 ± 605.65 pg/ml) was significantly higher than the mean post-treatment level (653.08 ± 330.92 pg/ml) (p = 0.015). Similarly, the mean growth differentiation factor-15 level of the study group at the time of diagnosis was significantly higher than the control group (p = 0.04). However, mean growth differentiation factor-15 levels were similar between the groups after the treatment. Growth differentiation factor-15 was positively correlated with both C-reactive protein (p < 0.001) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p = 0.001) at the time of diagnosis.

Growth differentiation factor-15 levels are significantly increased in children with acute rheumatic fever at the time of diagnosis and return to similar levels with healthy children after treatment. Growth differentiation factor-15 is positively and significantly correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein at the time of diagnosis.

Acute rheumatic fever in childhood continues to cause serious morbidity despite all developments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with acute rheumatic fever and to determine the frequency of subclinical carditis and the side effects of the drugs used in the treatment.

The data of patients hospitalised between 2008 and 2018 with the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever were included in the study. The relationship of gender and age with the frequency of major symptoms and the distribution of the drugs used in the treatment and their side effects were evaluated.

Medical records of 102 patients with complete data were reviewed. 56.9% of the patients were male and the mean age was 10.7 ± 1.9 years. The most common distribution of complaints found were arthritis (51%), arthralgia (25.5%) and fever (16.7%). 10.8% of all patients (n = 11) were diagnosed subclinical carditis via echocardiographic evaluation. The frequency of carditis was higher in female patients with a borderline statistical significance (p = 0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference between gender and arthritis (p = 0.22) and carditis (p > 0.05). Anti-congestive therapy was required in 22% and inotropic treatment was needed in 6.1% cases. Toxic hepatitis developed in four cases during the acetylsalicylic acid treatment.

In a 10-year period, detection of subclinical carditis in 10.8% cases supported that echocardiography should be performed as a standard method for the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever. Patients should be followed closely in terms of hepatic toxicity due to acetylsalicylic acid used in the treatment.

Rheumatic heart disease is among the leading causes of acquired valvular heart disease in the developing world. However, there is no data available for rheumatic heart disease in the paediatric population of Sabah. This study collected data for acute rheumatic fever admissions among the paediatric population in Sabah over a period of 3 years.

This is a retrospective cohort study. All records for admissions to paediatric wards in Sabah for acute rheumatic fever from January 2016 to December 2018 were collected. The patient records were then traced and required information were collected.

A total of 52 cases of acute rheumatic fever were admitted. It was observed that the incidence of acute rheumatic fever was 74.4 per 100,000 paediatric admissions. Patients from the West Coast Division made up most of the admissions (n = 24, 46.2%). Male patients (n = 35, 67.3%) of the indigenous Kadazan-Dusun ethnicity (n = 21, 40.4%) were most commonly encountered. The mean age at time of presentation was 9.58 years. Most cases admitted (n = 38, 73.1%) were categorised as Priority 1 (severe rheumatic heart disease).

Most patients who were admitted had symptoms of heart failure and were diagnosed with severe rheumatic heart disease. Although this disease is preventable, the incidence in Sabah remains high. This study was limited as we only looked at patients who were admitted and we foresee the real incidence to be higher. Hence, there is an urgent need for a rheumatic heart disease registry in Malaysia to gather more data for prevention and early intervention.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, platelet-to-lymphocyte, and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratios in acute rheumatic fever in children.

In this retrospective study, 182 patients with acute rheumatic fever and 173 controls were included. Complete blood count parameters, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, monocyte-to-lymphocyte, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios were recorded for all the patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, monocyte-to-lymphocyte, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios were significantly higher in patients with rheumatic heart disease than patients without cardiac involvement (p < 0.05). C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels were found to have a positive correlation with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (r = 0.228, p = 0.001; r = 0.355, p = 0.001), platelet-to-lymphocyte (r = 0.227, p = 0.01; r = 0.149, p = 0.005), and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratios (r = 0.117, p = 0.005; r = 0.107, p = 0.044). Cardiac involvement was present in 152 (83.5%) of the patients. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, monocyte-to-lymphocyte, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios were significantly higher in patients with rheumatic heart disease than patients without cardiac involvement (p < 0.05). Patients with carditis were grouped according to mitral, aortic, or both valve involvement but there was no significant difference between the groups with respect to neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, monocyte-to-lymphocyte, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios. In addition, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratios were significantly higher in patients with Sydenham’s chorea than without chorea (p < 0.05).

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, platelet-to-lymphocyte, and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratios may help make the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever and its prognosis by serial measurements in follow-up but none of them tell us the severity of carditis. Also, this is the first study showing the positive correlation between Sydenham’s chorea and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratios. Further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis, as this is the first study in the literature on this topic.

In present study, we aimed to evaluate the changes in valvular regurgitations in mid-term follow-up of children with first attack acute rheumatic fever diagnosed after updated Jones criteria.

The medical records of the children diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever between June 2015 and November 2018 were evaluated retrospectively. When compared to the findings during diagnosis, the changes in the degree of valvular regurgitation in the last visit were coded as same, regressed, or disappeared.

A total of 50 children were diagnosed with the first attack of acute rheumatic fever between the noted dates. Nine patients (18%) could be diagnosed depending on the new criteria. Eight patients did not have carditis, and 35 patients (49 valves) could be followed for a median follow-up period of 11.7 ± 3.3 months. In our study, the valvar lesions continued in 82% of patients with clinical carditis at the end of the first year and the degree of valvular regurgitation decreased in 39% of them. Despite this, in a significantly higher (p = 0.031) ratio of patients with silent carditis (41%), valvar lesions disappeared in the same follow-up period. In 18.4% of the involved valves, regurgitation regressed to physiological level.

Updated Jones criteria make it possible to diagnose a significant number of patients, and the ratio of complete recovery among patients with silent carditis is significantly higher. Also, it can be speculated that the normal children in whom a physiological mitral regurgitation is detected should be followed in terms of rheumatic heart disease.

In developing countries, acute rheumatic fever is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in the paediatric and adolescent population. It is believed that vulnerability to developing acute rheumatic fever is associated with several factors such as socio-economic and living conditions.

Determine the incidence and clinical characteristics of acute rheumatic fever in the Central Anatolia region of Kayseri within the last 14 years, and to make a comparison of two 7-year periods.

We performed a retrospective analysis of 624 patients who were diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever at the Department of Pediatric Cardiology in the Medical Faculty of Erciyes University between January, 1998 and December, 2011.

The mean age of patients was 10.9±2.7 years. The female/male ratio was 1.4. When patients were categorised according to age groups, the largest group represented 376 patients (60.3%) aged between 10 and 14 years. The estimated incidence rate of acute rheumatic fever was 7.4/100,000 in the Central Anatolia region of Kayseri. Among the major findings, the most common included carditis at 54%, arthritis at 35%, Sydenham’s chorea at 25%, and subcutaneous nodules at 0.5%, respectively. No significant difference was found between the first 7-year period and second 7-year period in distributions of age, gender, and major findings.

Although there has been socio-economic development in Turkey in the recent years, the incidence of acute rheumatic fever is still high in the Central Anatolia region of Kayseri.

There may be an increase in the risk of atrial arrhythmia due to left atrial enlargement and the influence on conduction system in acute rheumatic fever. The aim of this study is to investigate atrial electromechanical delay and P-wave dispersion in patients with acute rheumatic fever.

A total of 48 patients diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever and 40 volunteers of similar age, sex, and body mass index were included in the study. The study groups were compared for M-mode echocardiographic parameters, interatrial electromechanical delay, intra-atrial electromechanical delay, and P-wave dispersion.

Maximum P-wave duration, P-wave dispersion, and interatrial electromechanical delay were significantly higher in patients with acute rheumatic fever compared with the control group (p < 0.001). However, there was no difference in terms of intra-atrial electromechanical delay (p > 0.05). For patients with acute rheumatic fever, a positive correlation was identified between the left atrium diameter and the P-wave dispersion and interatrial electromechanical delay (r = 0.524 and p < 0.001, and r = 0.351 and p = 0.014, respectively). Furthermore, an important correlation was also identified between the P-wave dispersion and the interatrial electromechanical delay (r = 0.494 and p < 0.001).

This study shows the prolongation of P-wave dispersion and interatrial electromechanical delay in acute rheumatic fever. Left atrial enlargement can be one of the underlying reasons for the increase in P-wave dispersion and interatrial electromechanical delay.