Some epidemiological aspects of acute rheumatism.

Abstract

In the autumn of 1947, the notification of acute rheumatism became compulsory in the County Boroughs of Sheffield, Bristol, Grimsby, and Lincoln, and the Administrative County of Lincolnshire (Parts of Lindsey), thus providing opportunity for a fresh attack on some neglected problems of the disease. The Rheumatic Fever Committee of the Royal College of Physicians decided to exploit this opportunity by setting on foot a special study of the notified cases. The study dealt with the social background of the disease in general and was closely modelled on the Medical Research Council investigation of 1927. The present paper is an abridged version of a report prepared for the Rheumatic Fever Committee of the Royal College of Physicians, but the responsibility for the form of analysis and for the conclusions drawn rests entirely with the authors. In the regulation introducing notification (S.R. and O., No. 1828) acute rheumatism was defined as the following conditions occurring separately or together in a person under the age of 16 years: