Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in the Kimberley: using hospitalisation data to find cases and describe trends.

Conclusions and implications: Using hospitalisation data is an effective method of identifying cases of ARF/RHD not currently on the register. This process could be undertaken for initial case finding in areas with newly established registers, or as regular quality assurance in areas with established register-based programs. Reasons for the observed decrease in hospitalisation rates remain unclear and warrant further investigation. PMID: 25169025 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Aust N Z J Public Health Source Type: research