Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in the Hamilton health district: I. An epidemiological survey.

The establishment of a computer based rheumatic fever register in the Hamilton health district is reported. The mean annual incidence of rheumatic fever over a five period in Maoris and non-Maoris 5-29 years of age was 88.0 and 9.3 per 100 000 respectively, with almost twice the recurrence rate in Maoris. The prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in Maoris and non-Maoris, 5-19 years of age, was 6.5 and 0.9 per 1000 respectively, Maoris being more likely to have severe or multiple valve lesions. Over a 10 year study of under 30 year olds, all 11 cardiac deaths occurred in Maoris. Twenty-seven out of 31 valve surgery cases were Maoris.