Prevention and control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease: the Cuban experience (1986-1996-2002).

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are still major medical and public health problems mainly in developing countries. Pilot studies conducted during the last five decades in developed and developing countries indicated that the prevention and control of RF/RHD is possible. During the 1970s and 1980s, epidemiological studies were carried out in selected areas of Cuba in order to determine the prevalence and characteristics of RF/RHD, and to test several long-term strategies for prevention of the diseases. METHODS: Between 1986 and 1996 we carried out a comprehensive 10-year prevention programme in the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio and evaluated its efficacy five years later. The project included primary and secondary prevention of RF/RHD, training of personnel, health education, dissemination of information, community involvement and epidemiological surveillance. Permanent local and provincial RF/RHD registers were established at all hospitals, policlinics and family physicians in the province. Educational activities and training workshops were organised at provincial, local and health facility level. Thousands of pamphlets and hundreds of posters were distributed, and special programmes were broadcast on the public media to advertise the project. RESULTS: There was a progressive decline in the occurrence and severity of acute RF and RHD, with a marked decrease in the prevalence of RHD in school children from 2.27 patients per 1,000 children in 1986 to 0.24 per 1,000 in 1996. A marked and progressive decline was also seen in the incidence and severity of acute RF in five- to 25-year-olds, from 18.6 patients per 100,000 in 1986 to 2.5 per 100,000 in 1996. There was an even more marked reduction in recurrent attacks of RF from 6.4 to 0.4 patients per 100,000, as well as in the number and severity of patients requiring hospitalisation and surgical care. Regular compliance with secondary prophylaxis increased progressively and the direct costs related to treatment of RF/RHD decreased with time. The implementation of the programme did not incur much additional cost for healthcare. Five years after the project ended, most of the measures initiated at the start of the programme were still in place and occurrence of RF/RHD was low.

Pathomorphometrical characteristics of atherosclerosis in youth. A multinational investigation of WHO/World Heart Federation (1986-1996), using atherometric system.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: From 1986 to 1996, 1339 autopsies were performed on children and young adults, aged 5-34 years, in 18 countries of five continents in the course of the multinational investigation of the World Health Organization/International Society and Federation Cardiology (WHO/ISFC), "Pathobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth" (PBDAY). A set of 966 left-half thoracic and 947 left-half abdominal aortae and 958 right coronary arteries were processed in the Center of Investigations and References of Atherosclerosis of Havana (CIRAH), i.e., one of the Reference Centers of the PBDAY. Pathomorphological and morphometrical analyses were carried out by a well-established method, the Atherometric System (AS). METHODS AND RESULTS: By qualitative analysis AS permitted the identification of each type of atherosclerotic lesions (AL). The quantitative analysis, using a digitizer (MYPAC-Japan, a PC-Pentium 200 Mhz-32 MB RAM), and the software Atherosoft, allowed the measurement of the intima surface occupied by any kind of AL, and estimation of the volume occupied and thus the degree of obstruction and stenosis of the lumen. The autopsy data were divided into three age groups: a) 5 to 14 years; b) 15 to 24 years and c) 25 to 34 and processed by age and sex. The commercial package NCSS was utilized for statistical analysis of the data. CONCLUSIONS: Of particular interest were the following findings: a) Atherosclerosis increases with age; b) Fatty streaks (FS) were always present already at 5 years of age, independent of the country, climate, state of nourishment, type and amount of foods and the habits and lifestyle of the population studied. FS progressed most rapidly from 15 to 24 years. The fibrous plaque began to appear slowly at the end of the second and rapidly progressed after the third decades. The severe plaque was rarely observed before 30 years of age; it appeared in the fourth decade and then progressed slowly, but steadily.

[Rheumatic fever in Cuba]. / Revmaticheskaia likhoradka na Kube.

Rheumatic fever--is a social disease; it's incidence is connected with the sensitivity of the patients and infection--group A streptococcus. Such factors as social and economic conditions, accessibility of public health services and environmental factors may influence the spread of streptococcus. In the last decade the mortality rate (rheumatic cardiac failure) decreased in the Republic of Cuba from 4.2 x 10(5) in 1968 down to 2.1 in 1985. It's incidence was within 2.1 and 6.0/1.000 (children at an age of 5-14 years).

[Ischemic heart disease. Its incidence and association with risk factors]. / Niedokrwienna choroba serca. Zachorowalnosc i jej zwiazek z czynnikami ryzyka.

Cardiovascular diseases are the first cause of death in all developed countries and in many underdeveloped countries (1). In Cuba they have constituted the first cause of death in the last 20 years, with a tendency to increase, with the characteristic that this tendency is due to ischemic heart disease (IHD) (2). The frequency of IHD increases with age, but it has increased in the population under 50 years of age lately (3, 4, 5). Although the cause of atherosclerosis is unknown, in the last years an epidemiologic association has been demonstrated between the atherosclerotic disease (mainly IHD) and a series of pathologies, habits of the population, genetical, biochemical, physiological and environmental factors, which influence directly and indirectly the early development, frequency, severity evolution and prognosis of IHD and have been called coronary risk factors (CRF); at present, the disease is considered to be multifactorial and its magnitude and severity are influenced by the exposure time and the combination of CRF; it has also been demonstrated that it is decreased by the application of measures for the pressure measurements with Hg sphygmomanometer, in the population (1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). In our country, a series of studies have been made to ascertain the magnitude and characteristics of cardiovascular diseases (12-14); through these works we will know the incidence of IHD, some of its characteristics and its relation with some coronary risk factors hypercholesterolemia, arterial hypertension, (AH), diabetes mellitus, smoking habit and obesity).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)