Background: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the leading cause of death from cardiovascular disorders in children and young adults in developing countries.
RHD is a complication of rheumatic fever (RF) that can cause chronic valve lesions and usually require valve repair/replacement in the future.
Objectives: To know the echomorphology of valve damage in patients suffered from RF/RHD, as well as the role of age and sex on valve abnormalities in echocardiography results of pediatric RF/RHD.
Methods: Echocardiography findings of children ?18 years with RF/RHD from January 2015 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic data and echomorphology of valve lesions and severity were analyzed.
Results: A total 115 children with RF/RHD were included in this study with age ?18 years and the mean age was 11.17 years. The fifty-five percent were in the age range 10 to 14 years old. Mitral valve damage was the most common lesions seen in 82 children (71,3%). Mitral regurgitation (MR) was found in 29 children with 21 had mild MR (9 males vs 12 females), 3 had moderate MR (0 males vs 3 females), while 5 had severe MR (2 males vs 3 females). Some complications occur in
patients with RHD. The complication encountered was cardiomyopathy (70%), pulmonary hypertension (21.2%), and infective endocarditis (8.8%).
Conclusions: Females had a higher prevalence of RF/RHD than males, with the majority was a group of children aged 10 to 14 years. Mitral valve damage was found in almost all the cases of RHD. Sex was one of the factors that influence the type of valve abnormalities in RHD. The most frequent complication in RHD was
cardiomyopathy, followed by pulmonary hypertension.