We aimed to use echocardiographic (echo) screening to evaluate the risk of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) among the relatives of patients with advanced RHD, who were enrolled in the University Hospital's outpatient clinics from February 2020 to September 2021. Consenting first-degree relatives were invited for echo screening using handheld devices (GE VSCAN) by non-physicians, with remote interpretation. Matched controls (spouses, neighbors) living in the same household were enrolled in a 1:5 fashion. A standard echo (GE Vivid-IQ) was scheduled if abnormalities were observed. In 16 months, 226 relatives and 47 controls of 121 patients were screened, including 129 children, 77 siblings and 20 parents. The mean age was 40 ± 17 years, 67% of the patients were women, and 239 (88%) lived with the index case for >10 years. Echo findings suggestive of RHD were confirmed in zero controls and 14 (7.5%) relatives (p = 0.05): 11 patients had mild/moderate mitral regurgitation, and four were associated with mitral stenosis and abnormal morphology. Two patients had mild aortic regurgitation and abnormal morphology, which were associated with mild aortic and mitral stenosis, and two patients with advanced RHD had bioprostheses in the mitral (2) and aortic (1) positions. In conclusion, first-degree relatives of individuals with clinical RHD are at greater risk of having RHD, on top of socioeconomic conditions.
Keywords: echocardiography; family; rheumatic heart disease; risk; screening.