Socioeconomic factors in the etiology of rheumatic fever.

In a case control study we evaluated the effects of socioeconomic and some other factors on the risk of Rheumatic Fever (RF) occurrence. We compared 148 patients, with RF first attack, with 444 controls individually matched to the patients for age, sex, and place of residence. The unemployment of parents was found to be the most closely related to RF, the estimated relative risk (RR) being 10.37 (95 per cent confidence limits 5.31 to 20.24). Among other socioeconomic factors, the following were found to be significantly related to RF: low education of mother, the RR being 2.58 (CL 1.38 to 4.83), change of place of residence during last 5 years, the RR being 5.00 (CL 1.52 to 7.93) and poor living conditions, that is, deteriorated condition of dwellings, the RR being 1.83 (CL 1.12 to 2.98), home dampness, with the RR of 2.48 (CL 1.34 to 4.61) and home crowding expressed as more then 2 persons per room, the RR being 1.72 (CL 1.08 to 2.72), less then 5 m2 of living space per capita, with the RR of 2.83 (CL 1.19 to 6.71) and sleeping in bed with other person, giving the RR of 1.65 (CL 1.02 to 2.66). Out of other factors observed, that were the subject matter of the study, history of frequent sore throat and family history positive on RF were found to be significantly more frequent in patients then in their controls, with corresponding RR of 2.01 (CL 1.41 to 2.89) and 2.81 (CL 1.68 to 4.69) respectively.