[Rheumatic fever and Kawasaki disease among children in Israel]

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic Fever (RF) and Kawasaki Disease (KD) are the two leading causes of childhood acquired heart disease in developed countries.

AIM: The objective of this paper is to characterize the epidemiologic changes and estimate the incidence rate of RF and KD among children in Israel in the past two decades.

METHODS: Using the Israel National Hospital Discharges Register (NHDR), we investigated the epidemiologic features of RF and KD among children in Israel under 18 years of age, between the years 1996 and 2012. Incidence rates were calculated using the corresponding Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) data.

RESULTS: The average annual incidence rates of RF and KD were, respectively, 2 and 2.03 cases per 100,000 children under 18 years of age. During the study period, the incidence rate of RF declined by over 50%, while the incidence rate of KD increased by more than 40%. The hospitalization rate of RF and KD diagnoses in children showed similar trends.

CONCLUSIONS: The incidence rates of RF and KD had undergone significant changes in the past two decades. These changes probably reflect increased awareness of preventing RF and diagnosing KD among health professionals. Due to the high risk of chronic heart disease associated with inadequately treated children, it is important to maintain high awareness among healthcare professionals and provide timely diagnosis of both conditions.