BACKGROUND: Rheumatic @entity299 is still a major health problem in developing countries such as India and, for the health planners to allocate funds, the actual prevalence of the disease should be known. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of @entity6331 in rural school @entity1 in India. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 229,829 @entity1 between 6 and 18 years of age were screened as part of a school health program. All @entity1 with a @entity299 detected by the screening doctor were referred to a tertiary care center for evaluation by a cardiologist. The presence of @entity299 was confirmed by color Doppler examination. All @entity1 with known @entity299 were excluded from this study. A total of 374 @entity1 were found to have @entity299 . Of these, 157 @entity1 were found to have @entity6331 , confirmed by echocardiogram. Thus, the current prevalence of @entity6331 is 0.68 per 1000 @entity1 . CONCLUSIONS: In the largest school survey conducted to date in India, we report the prevalence of @entity6331 to be 0.68 per 1000 @entity1 . Our study suggests that there may have been a dramatic decline in the prevalence of @entity6331 in India.

Declining prevalence of XXXX in rural schoolchildren in India: 2001-2002.

@entity6331 :: ('MESH:D012214', 'Disease') :: ['rheumatic heart disease'] @entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['children'] @entity299 :: ('MESH:D006331', 'Disease') :: ['cardiac lesions', 'heart disease', 'congenital heart disease', 'valvar heart disease']
@entity6331 :: (MESH:D012214,Disease) :: ['rheumatic heart disease']
