How Many Doses Make a Difference? An Analysis of Secondary Prevention of Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease.

ABSTRACT: Background Acute rheumatic fever ( ARF ) and rheumatic heart disease cause substantial burdens worldwide. Long-term antibiotic secondary prophylaxis is used to prevent disease progression, but evidence for benefits of different adherence levels is limited. Using data from northern Australia, we identified factors associated with adherence, and the association between adherence and ARF recurrence, progression to rheumatic heart disease, worsening or improvement of rheumatic heart disease, and mortality. Methods and Results Factors associated with adherence (percent of doses administered) were analyzed using logistic regression. Nested case-control and case-crossover designs were used to investigate associations with clinical outcomes; conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odd

SUBMITTER: de Dassel JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6405600 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature