Clinical profile of acute rheumatic fever in children in Pakistan: A study at a tertiary care hospital.

Objective: To determine the clinical profile of children presenting with acute rheumatic fever (ARF) at a tertiary care healthcare facility. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Pediatrics, Rai Medical College Teaching Hospital, Sargodha Pakistan. Period: January 2021 to December 2022. Material & Methods: We analyzed children of both genders aged between 1 month to 18 years and presenting with ARF. At the time of enrollment, medical history was obtained and physical as well as clinical examinations were performed. The demographical and clinical information were recorded. ARF was labeled as per “Modified Jones Criteria”. A special proforma was formed to record study data. Results: In a total of 154 children, 96 (62.3%) were female while the mean age was 9.3±4.6 years. Forty four (28.6%) patients were having first episode of ARF while 110 (71.4%) had recurrence of ARF. Fever was noted to be the most common presentation noted in 121 (78.6%) patients of ARF. Arthritis was significantly more common among patients with first episode of ARF when compared to recurrence of ARF (70.5% vs. 29.1%, p<0.0001). Degree of carditis was significantly more severe among patients with recurrence of ARF (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Majority of the acute rheumatic fever patients present with recurrence of acute rheumatic fever. Fever was the commonest clinical presentation while arthritis was significantly more prevalent among patients with first episode of acute rheumatic fever.