An analytical study of one hundred cases of rheumatic heart disease in children

Abstract

In this Thesis are given the results of an investigation into the social and medical histories of one hundred cases of rheumatic heart disease.In the first section of the Thesis are given the clinical findings upon which the diagnosis of heart disease has been based. In the next section follows the incidence rates of acute arthritis, chorea, growing pains, tonsillitis and scarlet fever, discovered in the histories of these patients. The results of tonsillectomy in the prevention of rheumatism are given. In other sections the subjects of enquiry are the social circumstances of the patients, and the relationship between the environment of the patients and the incidence of rheumatism among them.Two series of control cases have been used in these investigations, the first control series was a group of 600 children drawn from the same localities and schools as the rheumatic heart cases, and the second control series a group of 500 boys from a public school in the City.The examination of all these cases was carried out in the schools and school clinics in Hull, and in compiling their case- histories, use was made of Medical Âecords from the Maternity and Child Welfare Department and the School Medical Department of Hull. These records gave a very full account of the past illnesses of the children and added greatly to the reliability of the histories recorded.In the final section of the thesis are discussed and summarised the results from this enquiry.