Prevalence of rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease among school children of age group 5-15 years in district Jammu

Introduction: Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease are major cause of valvular heart disease in the world. It is estimated that up to 15.6 million people worldwide are affected by rheumatic heart disease and every year approximately 470,000 new cases are detected and 2,33,000 deaths are attributed to rheumatic heart disease. Objective: A study was conducted by department of Community medicine, Government Medical College Jammu (J&K) to assess the prevalence of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease among school children in age group of 5-15 years, in Jammu district. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study involving the screening of school children drawn from schools of Jammu district as a part of a research project of ICMR under Jai Vigyan Mission Mode (JVMM). Participants included ten thousand students of schools of Jammu district in ten age slots in age group of 5-15years, each having 1000 children. Setting: The schools were selected by stratified systematic random sampling technique such that half of children (5000) belonged to rural schools and half (5000) to urban schools with equal sex distribution as well as equal government private distribution. Study Period: May 2007 to March 2010. Results: Prevalence of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease were found to be respectively 0.7/1000 and 0.6/ 1000 school children in age group 5-15 years. Conclusion: Keeping in view these results, the burden of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease on the public health system for chemoprophylaxis and surgery cannot be ignored. Hence, although on a decline, but still rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease remain a public health problem for the young populations aged 05-15 years in this part of country.